MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur ministers address animal and plant health

Mercosur Agriculture ministers are meeting in Santiago to consider sanitary policies in the framework of the Agriculture Council of the South or CAS.

The two days meetings is scheduled to consider biotechnology, biosecurity and product "traceability" issues with the purpose of reaching specific understandings regarding animal and plant health and food innocuousness.

"The main goal is to work coordinated with the different areas of agriculture policy, that means involving Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Chile sharing and exchanging experiences which can then be taken to international forums", said Argentine Agriculture minister Miguel Campos.

Two main issues are currently on the table, foot and mouth disease and the "cotton bug" (anthonomus grandis), considered the most destructive plague for cotton crops and "also known in the United States as the one billion US dollars plague".

Another issue is having access to "soft" financing so farmers can face and effectively combat diseases "alien to the area such as chicken flue and mad cow, bovine spongiform encephalopathy".

"This is closely linked to the "traceability" factor; in a global world with free trade agreements with developing countries forces us to use common identification and certification mechanisms ensuring the quality of our produce", added Mr. Campos.

Improved competitiveness and international participation in world markets of Mercosur agriculture is the main objective of CAS.