Travellers carrying unprocessed foods through Entebbe International Airport will be required to acquire phytosanitary certificates, according to new directives by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
Phytosanitary relates to measures for the control of plant diseases, especially in agricultural crops.
The new directive applies to unprocessed agricultural imports and exports for personal cargo. Many Ugandan passengers have been freely exporting food stuffs as passenger cargo, with no standards being enforced.
“This means that apart from other border posts and cargo terminals, the ministry continues to inspect agricultural produce and products at the departure and arrival terminals at Entebbe International Airport,” a December 6 statement from the ministry states.
The statement followed public uproar after ministry officials confiscated food from travellers on last week
Mr Stephen Byantwale, the director of Crop Resources, said small quantities of the foodstuffs will be inspected at the airport on the day of travel by a resident inspector from the ministry.
“We are saying that even these that are going with small things, we check them and clear them to ensure they are clean. You will find our inspectors. We have instituted the first checkpoint if you have anything to declare that is of plant material, we check it and certify it… ,” he said.
“We do electric certification, so you tell us the point of destination and it is internally processed, and … sent to the point of destination,” he added.
Intending travellers with large consignments will, however, be required to declare all agricultural-related products, 48 hours before the day of travel into or out of Uganda to allow for inspection.
Mr Byantwale said the only fee involved is about Shs5,000 for the issuance of the certificate. According to Mr Byantwale, this is meant to ensure that foodstuffs going out and coming into the country meet international standards. “Part of those things get intercepted at the points of destination and nobody comes back to tell us except through international arrangements called notifications. So you find Uganda has 100 interceptions not for our business people but because of these people carrying bananas and others but when they are being red listed, it is the business that suffer,” he explained.
According to the December 6 statement from the ministry, registered export companies petitioned the ministry concerning foods exported through the passenger departure terminal.
“Since these fruits and vegetables are exported cheaply and do not adhere to the packaging standards, it compromises the country’s export earnings and does not create incentive for the law abiding companies,” Maj Gen David Kasura-Kyomukama, the MAAIF permanent secretary, stated.
MAAIF explained that the checks are well within the law since the country is signatory to the World Trade Organisation Sanitary and Phytosanitary (WTO SPS)
Source: Monitor
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