While bureaucratic procedures to allow fruits into the United States can be lengthy, a Colombian group is optimistic access will be gained for the country's Hass avocados in the northern market fairly soon. Colombian Hass Avocado Growers and Exporters Corporation (Corpohass) president Rodrigo Garavito caught up with www.freshfruitportal.com to discuss how joint efforts between companies, associations and the Colombian government were starting to show results.

"Corpohass stems from a need for direct dialogue with the government of the United States. We have met all the traders, exporters and growers, to work on visibility, and it has been almost two years now that we have been meeting," he said.

Photo: ollesvensson, via Flickr Creative Commons.

"Our role is to represent; to be the representative association to connect with the national government, with the Ministry of Agriculture and the U.S. government," Garavito said, adding Corpohass growers accounted for around three quarters of the national Hass supply.

As a part of this process, an aggressive campaign was undertaken to provide detailed productive and sanitary information to the fields, all with the aim of consolidating a work plan with U.S. authorities.

"The work plan is already done and now we are in the lobbying stage. We will have admissibility [in the U.S.] more or less for the end of this year or the start of the next.

"[The protocol] is already settled. The ball is in the U.S. government's court, to put it in another way. We went to Mexico to see the protocols and we have already worked on that.

"The main requirement is that we must improve in is [the treatment of] quarantine pests."

New opportunities and markets

In terms of other trade possibilities around the world, Garavito said Russia's recent ban on EU and U.S. products presented a good pportunity for Colombia 'without a doubt'.

"For us it would be very good. We are working with the Ministry of Agriculture to be able to have trade links with Russia and be able to send avocados, as we are an avocado-growing country," he said.

The representative added hopes were high that new markets could be opened in Asia to export Colombian avocados, while negotiations were underway to forge a reciprocity agreement with major avocado player and market Chile.

"We have the view as well of opening Japan and Korea, and having reciprocity with Chile, as when we [Corpohass] didn't exist there was an agreement that didn't make much sense because we receive Chilean fruit and we also want that they receive ours when they don't have product," Garavito said.

"This agreement was made around 2.5 years ago, and we will start working on the issue with the Ministry of Agriculture of Colombia to be able to bring about reciprocity with the Chilean government."

www.freshfruitportal.com