The shipments of ten consignments of watermelons which were expected to be transported to New Zealand yesterday Saturday 5 have been cancelled.
A last-minute arrangement with trucking companies to transport the consignments to the wharf in Tongatapu obviously did not go to plan and this has been blamed for the cancellation, Kaniva News has learnt.
The issue needed immediate “intervention” from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Lord Tu’ilakepa but they were in Vava’u as part of the Cabinet’s tour to promote its controversial Covid-19 fasting and prayer service.
These melons would no longer be exported after yesterday’s episode because every consignment expected to be shipped to New Zealand required only freshly picked melons, a source said.
The news comes after New Zealand issued a temporary approval permit on Thursday, allowing Tongan exporters to send watermelons to the country under special conditions.
The issuance provisionally lifted the suspension of such produce which was imposed after the discovery of live fruit fly at the New Zealand border in a shipment of Tongan watermelons nearly two months ago.
In a statement, Peter Thomson from Biosecurity New Zealand, said approval had been given to Tonga to implement corrective actions and improved processes for exporting watermelons.
“It is critical that MPI [Ministry of Primary Industries] has confidence that these processes are fully implemented before we fully reinstate the pathway.
“The approval allows a number of trial shipments, which will be carefully monitored for compliance with the agreed export processes.”
He said Tonga would need to complete the trial shipments without any non-compliance issues.
“MPI will then fully reopen the pathway and closely monitor it to ensure export processes continue to be undertaken.”
Thomson said New Zealand was currently free from fruit fly species that attack commercial fruit.
“If introduced to New Zealand, these fruit flies could have devastating consequences to our horticultural production and trade.”
