Hope as EU lifts export ban on bitter gourd fruit

Arusha. A recent move by the European Union to lift a ban on bitter gourd fruit imports offers new hopes of increased incomes to horticultural farmers in Tanzania.

Ms Martina Chakupewa, who owns a 20-acre bitter gourd farm in Arusha said here at the weekend that the EU blanket ban was a blow to farmers who had invested heavily into production of the fruit in 2021.

“But now prospects are high that farmers would raise glasses to toast for windfall earnings this year, thanks to the removal of export restrictions to a lucrative EU’s market” said Ms Chakupewa.

The EU’s ban had lasted for two months but the lifting of the ban on imports from Tanzania has boosted the moral of farmers.

In November 2022, European Commission suspended exports of Tanzania’s bitter gourd fruit into EU market, citing detection of quarantine pest, demanding the country to present the pest surveillance report proving the absence of Thrips palmi Karny.

The Tanzania Horticulture Association (Taha), through the UNDP funded Horticulture Transformation for Inclusive Growth (HOTIGRO), had to intervene by working closely with Tanzania Plant Health and Pesticides Authority (TPHPA) in conducting pest surveillance in all bitter gourd producing areas in Tanzania.

Taha’s chief executive officer, Ms Jacqueline Mkindi explained that her organization in collaboration with TPHPA had to collect samples from the bitter gourd growers for laboratory test to substantiate whether they had the Thrips Palmi Karny or not.

In her statement, Ms Mkindi said that the results of the laboratory test proved that Tanzania was free from Thrips palmi Karny, and that the bitter gourd were also produced in an area that was free from Spodoptera frugiperda.

As it happened, the scientific report was then presented to the EU for its consideration, which led to lifting of the ban on export of Tanzania’s grown bitter gourd fruit to its markets.

“After comprehensive analysis on the Tanzania’s pest surveillance report, the Plant Health Unit under the European Commission declared Tanzania to be eligible to export bitter gourd fruit to the EU under condition (a) of point 71 of Annex VII of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072,” she explained.

The European Commission commended Tanzania for achieving the important milestone in the phytosanitary certification system in compliance with the EU phytosanitary requirements.

“With your written communication notifying the commission that Tanzania is free from Thrips palmi Karny, Tanzania is therefore eligible to export bitter gourd fruit to the EU,” reads a statement written by a policy officer in the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) of European Commission, Dr Leonard Shumbe.

In its efforts to capture international markets, Taha through the HOTIGRO project had incorporated bitter gourd with high demands in European countries, thanks to its nutritional values.

“We’ve added a bitter gourd in the list of our commercial and high horticultural value chain” she said, adding that between January 2021 and July 2022, Tanzania exported nearly 220 metric tons of the crop to United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, earning the economy $691,000 (Sh1.5 billion).

Horticulture exports have become a major foreign exchange earner for Tanzania. The country targets $2 billion in horticulture export earnings by 2030.