المملكة: 4 stages of examination… Strict requirements for importing olive seedlings and plants host to the “Xylella fa studiosa” bacteria.

The requirements confirmed the prohibition of importing seedlings taken from genetically modified mothers or produced from genetically modified origins, in line with the approved environmental and regulatory controls.

With regard to olive seedlings specifically, agricultural projects were allowed And farmers to import for the purposes of replacement or conversion to advanced agricultural systems, provided that this is within the same cultivated area without any expansion into new areas.

The requirements gave the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture the authority to suspend the import permit and prevent the entry of the shipment if bacterial infections appear in the export country after the permit is issued.

Phytosanitary requirements in the export country

The controls required that the imported seedlings be exported from Nurseries approved by the National Plant Protection Organization in the exporting country, with the submission of a bacteria-free certificate and official monitoring reports, and that the nurseries must be from areas declared free of infection in countries that have recorded the presence of bacteria.

It required submitting the approved nursery record, and attaching detailed information about the production site, the varieties produced, the method of propagation, the components of the growing medium, the sources of propagation materials, the approved phytosanitary measures, the seedling approval mechanism, and the monitoring system. The official.

Specifications of imported seedlings

The requirements stipulated that the seedlings must bear approved identification cards that include the data of cultivation in the nursery, the variety, origin, taste, grade, year of observation, name of the producing nursery, country of production, and the importing company.

They stressed that they must be free of soil, and grown in approved alternative environments such as peat moss, agricultural perlite, or any alternative permitted by the Ministry, and subject to For a laboratory test to detect Xylella fastidiosa bacteria no less than 15 days before shipment, provided that the results of the test are approved by the National Plant Protection Organization in the country of export.

Required documents upon the arrival of the shipment

When the shipment arrives at the border ports, the bill of lading must be presented, the original certificate of origin or a true copy, and the original phytosanitary certificate attached with an additional declaration confirming that the source of the shipment is free of infected areas, in addition to a certificate of absence of genetic mutation (GMO). And a report on the results of the approved laboratory examination 15 days before shipment.

Requirements after the entry of the seedlings

The procedures stipulate that samples be drawn from the shipment at the port according to a confidence level of 95% and a detection level of 5%, based on international standard No. “31”. />
The host seedlings are subject to bacteria, which include a number of plant species, including the citrus “Citrus x aurantium var. sinensis”, coffee “coffea”, oleander “Nerium oleander”, olive “Olea europaea”, polygala “Polygala myrtifolia”, almond “Prunus dulcis”, and grape “Vitis vinifera”, for a strict control program extending for a period of no less than two years to ensure that they are completely free of any possible infections.

The follow-up period includes six months within a licensed nursery that meets the requirements. Sanitary conditions, followed by a year and a half at the permanent planting site, subject to continuous periodic examinations and monitoring of the health condition, provided that any plant proven to be infected is destroyed in accordance with the approved regulatory procedures, ensuring the reduction of the risk of bacterial spread and strengthening the plant protection system.

Additional examinations are also conducted at the quarantine sites and the final destination with a confidence level of 95% and a detection level of 0.5%, in accordance with the same international standard.

Waste management and prevention of premature propagation

It is required Controls: Collecting agricultural waste resulting from planting operations and dealing with it inside the nursery or planting site, while preventing the use of vegetative or terminal cuttings to propagate plants until at least two years have passed since the seedlings entered the country, thus reducing any potential risks of transmission of infection.