SOLOMON Islands long wait to meet international market standard requirements for the export of agricultural products will soon be a thing of the past.
Thanks to a National Government funded building complex to house a vapor heat treatment plant at the MAL Biosecurity area close to Henderson International Airport, Honiara.
The building complex to house the facility has already been completed with only minor fittings before actual installation work on the VHT plant is done
The vapor heat treatment plant was purchased in 2022 and is already in Honiara. Installation work is expected to commence in November this year by experts from the manufacturing company in Japan.
After installation work is done, pretrial and testing of optimum operating conditions will be conducted and technical officers from MAL will initially operate the plant to conduct trials on fruits and vegetables earmarked for export.
Minister for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) Honorable Franklyn Derek Wasi, toured the facility yesterday and was very pleased with the progress so far towards the installation and operation of the vapor heat treatment facility.
“I am very happy to be here visiting this important historical investment of the national government for our agriculture sector to boost the growth of our national economy.”
“The operation of this treatment facility will enable us to meet international market requirement standards for fruits and vegetables, particularly those that are susceptible to fruit flies,” Minister Wasi said.
“As the Minister responsible for agriculture I will ensure that this project is completed and the vapor heat treatment is operational in the next few months”.
The treatment facility will be the first of its kind in the country and the region that will be used to treat local agriculture produces to meet International standard for phytosanitary measures for the treatment of four economic species of fruit flies that are present in Solomon Islands and meet the requirements to export to any international market.
Minister Wasi adds that export of papaya and mango will now become a reality for our farmers once the facility comes into full operations.
The building complex and vapor heat treatment project cost around SB$7 Million and is fully funded by SIG through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) and Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).
Source: MAL Media