Australia: Victorian government is working to facilitate seed potato exports to Indonesia

The Government of the Australian State Victoria is working to facilitate seed potato exports to Indonesia before the end of the year, opening up a big opportunity for the potato industry.

Talks about quarantine protocols for seed potato exports were central to last week’s Super Trade Mission to Southeast Asia, led by Victorian Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh and Tourism Minister Louise Asher.

One hundred and ninety delegates were involved in the mission, of which 25 were from food groups.

Mr Walsh and Victorian government officials and private sector players met Indonesian food producer Indofood, one of the country’s largest grain importers, as well as government officials in relation to the quarantine regulations to establish the trade of seed potatoes.

“Using our new seed that doesn’t have any of the diseases they have, they can triple yields for the first couple of years. If they keep getting new seed they can boost their productivity significantly,’’ Mr Walsh said.

UniGrain executive director Mick Gleeson held a number of meetings with Indonesian officials on the issue of quarantine protocols. Only Western Australia has a trade agreement in place for seed potato exports to Indonesia. “Indonesia needs the confidence of having the actual government authorities saying ‘yes we support this and we’ll make sure this is what happens’,” Mr Gleeson told ABC radio this week.

“I would hope that it’s all put to bed before the end of this year. My estimation is probably a little bit earlier than that but you never know what hurdle might get put in front of you.”