Plant Quarantine-Mandatory For Agri Import

Plant Quarantine:

Plant quarantine is defined as the legal enforcement of the measures aimed to prevent pests from spreading or to prevent them from multiplying further in case they have already gained entry and have established in new restricted areas.

Plant quarantine may, therefore, be defined as ‘Rules and regulations promulgated by governments to regulate the introduction of plants, planting materials, plant products, soil, living organisms, etc. with a view to prevent inadvertent introduction of exotic pests, weeds and pathogens harmful to the agriculture or the environment of a country/region, and if introduced, to prevent their establishment and further spread’. Plant quarantine is thus designed as a safeguard against harmful pests/pathogens exotic to a country or a region.

Mandate:

To prevent the entry, establishment and spread of exotic pests in India as per the provisions of The Destructive Insects & Pests Act, 1914 and the notifications issued there under.

Objective:

To provide an efficient and effective service, that fully satisfies our customers, such as importers, exporters, individuals and the Government.

Mission:

• To protect our plant life from ravages of destructive pests by preventing their entry, establishment and spread and thereby increasing agriculture productivity in order to improve the economy of our country.
• To facilitate export certification of plants and plant products for safe global trade in agricultural commodities and thereby fulfilling our legal obligations under the international agreements.
• To adopt safe quarantine practices to protect our environment

Vision:

• Dynamic quarantine programmes to protect our plant life and environment.
• Sound inspection systems to safe guard the interests of farming community and the consumers and overseas marketing agencies and
• Sustained quality export certification to allow our competitiveness in the global trade in agriculture.

Plant quarantine as a national service:

In India, several pests and diseases got introduced from time to time, some of which, like late blight of potato, banana bunchy top, bacterial blight and streak diseases of paddy, have since become widespread. Some others like golden nematode and wart disease of potato and downy mildew of onion are still localized in certain parts of the country.

The above examples only highlight the risks involved in inadvertent introduction of serious pests/diseases along-with the planting material imported without adequate safeguards. Plant quarantine can provide such safeguards. Plant quarantine measures aim at providing protection to the agriculture of a country or region against the likely ravages of alien pests/pathogens should they get introduced and established. These measures are of particular importance and relevance to countries like India whose economy is largely based on agriculture. Quarantine not only helps to ward off the threats of exotic pests, but also aim to eliminate and prevent further spread of pests/pathogens (both indigenous and introduced) with restricted distribution within the country (domestic quarantine).

Plant quarantine, in real sense, serves as a national service by preventing the introduction of exotic pests/pathogens/weeds and their further spread. However, such endeavours could succeed only with the active support of all-the administrators, general public, farmers, scientists, communication media, customs and others.

Complementary role of plant quarantine:

Plant quarantine services are charged with the responsibility of preventing entry of hazardous pests, pathogens and weeds, but to deny entry to the valuable genetic resources would be against national interest. These activities are meant to help agricultural development and they are complementary to each other. Too much conservatism on the part of plant quarantine officials and too liberal an attitude on the part of plant introduction officials/breeders would be harmful.

Plant quarantine officials must strive to provide adequate safeguards to allow smooth flow of germplasm resources in a healthy state. They should also try to ensure that the germplasm, when received in quarantine station, is processed promptly and that the delays in release, if any, are purely due to biological considerations alone. At the same time, circumvention of plant quarantine must be avoided at all cost even if it means delay in release or rejection of certain materials based on biological consideration. The two should work in unison as members of a single team. Together they should decide the type, quantity and source of the material, and also the required quarantine safeguards. The plant quarantine officials should conduct research on developing sensitive and reliable methods of detection and salvaging treatments, or find alternatives to permit introduction of even high risk genera, if introduction of such materials is in the national interest.

Plant quarantine system in India:

• The main features of the existing plant quarantine regulations in India are as follows:
• No consignment of seeds/planting materials shall be imported into India without a valid ‘Import Permit’, which is to be issued by a competent authority, to be notified by the Central Government from time to time in the Official Gazette.
• No consignment of seeds/planting materials shall be imported into India unless accompained by a ‘Phytosanitary Certificate’, issued by the official Plant Quarantine Service of the source country.
• All consignments of plants and seeds for sowing/propagation/planting purposes shall be imported into India through land customs station, seaport, airport at Amritsar, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Madras, and such other entry points as may be specifically notified by the Central Government from time to time, where these shall be inspected and, if necessary, fumigated, disinfested/disinfected by authorized plant quarantine officials, before quarantine clearance.
• Seeds/planting materials requiring isolation growing under detention, shall be grown in post-entry quarantine facility approved and certified by the Designated Inspection Authority (DIA) to conform to the conditions laid down by the Plant Protection Adviser to the Govt. of India.
• Hay, straw or any other materials of plant origin shall not be used as packing material.
• Import of soil, earth, sand, compost, and plant debris accompanying seeds/planting materials shall not be permitted. However, soil can be imported for research purposes under a special permit issued by the Plant Protection Adviser to the Govt. of India.

Download, Read & Share: 

• User Manual for Importer/Exporter,
• Plant Quarantine Order, Guidelines, SOPs & Requirements etc.

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