1. All Grape Exporters/Farmers
2. All Grape Growers’ Federations
3. Maharashtra Rajya Draksha Bagaitdar Sangh, Pune
4. Fruit & Vegetable Association, Mumbai
5. All nominated laboratories
6. Director, National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune
7. All concerned Agriculture/Horticulture Officers – A P, Karnataka & Maharashtra
8. All PSC issuing Authorities – A P, Karnataka & Maharashtra
9. Commissioner, Horticulture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
10. Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Karnataka
11. Commissioner, Agriculture, Govt. of Maharashtra
12. Director, Agriculture – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka & Maharashtra
13. Managing Director, M S A M B, Pune
14. Agriculture Marketing Adviser, DMI, New Delhi
15. All regional Agmark offices – A P, Karnataka, Maharashtra
16. Apeda Regional offices – Bangalore, Hyderabad & Mumbai
17. Existing recognized Packhouses

     The residue-monitoring document on grapes was circulated by APEDA on 19th September, 2006 by e-mail as well as by speed post. We had also sent a CD-Rom to all concerned. We hope you all had received it. The document was also placed on the APEDA website.

1.   We have discussed the Agmark procedure with the industry and the Govts. of Maharashtra, Karnataka & AP. It has been agreed that while the Agmark certificate of grading would be issued by the Agmark officials, the inspection in Maharashtra and Karnataka would be carried out by the PSC issuing officers at the time of physical inspection for issue of phyto-sanitary certificate. Unfortunately, the Govt. of AP did not agree to this simplified work in spite of enough persuasion. It has, therefore, been decided that inspection for Agmark certification in Maharashtra will be carried out by the state govt. officials. As an alternative, the exporters may, if they so desire, approach the Agmark officials for inspection for Agmark certification. However, in AP and Karnataka, this inspection would be carried out by the Agmark officials themselves. A revised Annexure – 14 of the residue-monitoring document is enclosed. It is requested that all concerned may kindly take note of the revised Annexure – 14. The revised list of officials of Maharashtra Govt., who would carry out inspection for Agmark certification is also enclosed. In case of any clarification, exporters may kindly contact Dr. S.C. Khurana, Asst. AMA, DMI, Faridabad (Ph:0129-2415316/2434346, Fax: 0129-2416568/2412835, E-mail: khurana183@rediffmail.com, khurana183@gmail.com) or Dr S.S.P. Rao, Dy. AMA, DMI, Mumbai (Ph:022-22036801, 22032699, Fax:22091103, E-mail: dmiwrmbi@bom.nic.in, agmarknet@bom.nic.in) or the undersigned. During the 2005 grape season, it was observed that some exporters had not taken due care to make available the chemicals, apparatus, etc. listed in Appendix–(iii) of Annexure-14 due to which there were delays in Agmark inspection. The recognized packhouses are again advised to ensure that these facilities are available to enable the concerned officials carry out the tests expeditiously.

2.   In para 5.6 of the residue-monitoring document, the following is added at the end of the paragraph. “After drawl of samples, the representative of the laboratory shall make an endorsement on the farm/plot registration certificate that the samples have been drawn for residue testing.”

3.   In Annexure-10 (sample slip for grapes), the para 2 under the heading, “CERTIFICATE” is modified to read as, “This sample is taken from the above farm/plot, which is intended to be exported by __________(name of the farmer/exporter) and an endorsement to this effect has been made on the farm/plot registration certificate.”

4.   The Annexure –7 (list of pesticides recommended by NRC grapes) and Annexure – 11 (list of pesticides to be analysed) have also been revised by NRC Grapes (National Referral Laboratory) and the revised Annexure 7 & 11 are also enclosed. These may please be taken into consideration for the purposes of grape exports to the European Union during 2006.

5.   With a view to simplifying and bringing more transparency and objectivity into the residue monitoring procedure, farm registration had been introduced through computer software. It is understood that all farm registration in all the three states have been carried out through this web-based registration system. It needs to be understood that if the web-based registration of farmers has not been followed, sampling and analysis will not be possible. This is because the sampling of grapes, issue of test reports, internal alerts, weekly reporting, financial assistance for grape testing have all been computerized. All this work will have to be carried out by the laboratories as well as the State Govts. through the web-based system. One break in the chain at any stage will not allow the operator to proceed forward. Hence, the complete procedure as has been outlined in the residue monitoring document and explained to the laboratories and State Govts. at a software demonstration organized at APEDA-Mumbai on 23rd January, 2006 must have to be followed, otherwise, the exporters and the farmers will face difficulties in getting their samples analyzed. This may result in unnecessary delays to all the exporters. This software will be ready for use on the APEDA website (www.apeda.com) with effect from the morning of 1st February, 2006.

6.   The pesticide residue certificate, which will be issued by the laboratories in Annexure – 12 has also been slightly modified and is available on the computer system. The laboratories may review the format. In case the laboratories find any difficulty in running the software, they may contact Mr. C.S.A. Nathan at the APEDA Headquarters (Ph : 011-26514572/ 26513204/ 26513219/ 26514572 ext. 199, fax : 011-26519259, e.mail : webcons@apeda.gov.in).

I wish all the farmers, exporters and officials all the very best in the coming grape season and we hope that all the activities would be carried out in the same spirit as have been intended.

Yours faithfully
S. Dave
Director