The Canary Islands Government is confident that, once they have received the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Spanish Government, the United Kingdom will accept the "new control measures proposed by the archipelago for the import of potatoes from that country".
This was stated this Monday, after the meeting of the Governing Council, by the Minister of the area, Narvay Quintero, who explained that these measures, agreed with the sector and the Government Delegation in the islands, "consist of washing the potatoes, bagging them in new sacks in agricultural cooperatives, not in the field, and an exhaustive monitoring of traceability with detailed information of their origin", among other actions.
Quintero recalled that in the Canary Islands "170 million kilos of potatoes are consumed per year", of which "99 are produced in the islands", while stressing that the measures proposed to "strengthen the control of imports" from the United Kingdom seek to "prevent new pests from entering the archipelago, such as the 79 introduced in the last twenty years".
"Strengthening the control of imports, to prevent new pests from entering the archipelago"
Narvay Quintero recalled that on this occasion the one detected in the United Kingdom is that of the "Colorado beetle, detected on July 11 in a town in England." The counselor stressed that last week the United Kingdom certified the "absence of pests affecting its potato crops."
