Report On The APPPC Regional Workshop on Methodologies for Sampling of Consignments (ISPM No. 31)

<p>The APPPC Regional Workshop on Methodologies for Sampling of Consignments (ISPM No. 31) was organized at Bekasi, Indonesia from 22-26 August 2016 in collaboration between APPPC and the Indonesian Agricultural Quarantine Agency (IAQA), Ministry of Agriculture. More than 35 delegates from 20 countries (including 11 local participants) participate in the workshop. The main objective of the workshop is to strengthen capacity of the participating NPPOs in selecting the appropriate sampling methodologies for consignments inspection and/or laboratory testing. The country reports has updated participants on the current status of ISPM 31 implementation in respective countries. These reports have enabled participants to better understand on a number of practical sampling methodologies employed by each countries at present, identify similarity and the difference in implementing sampling techniques and prescribe the constraints in the implementation of ISPM 31. This workshop has created the awareness, increased the knowledge on sampling methodologies and its important roles in phytosanitary regulatory system. At the end of this workshop, participants are expected to be the potential master trainers for ISPM 31 in their respective country. They are encouraged to share the information with their country fellows/colleagues since the understanding of this ISPM by all plant quarantine officers will greatly reduce the non-compliance of the export commodities and facilitate trade. The importing countries will also benefit from this knowledge, when there will be a reduction in pest incursion that contributes to the overall food security. The workshop also exposed the participants to various operational constraints that probably need to be addressed by each country to ensure that this ISPM could be fully implemented.</p><p>Focus group discussion session on the specific subjects was initiated by 6 countries that highlighted the respective practical sampling methodologies and experiences and followed by an in depth extensive discussions by all participants. This provides the platform to share information and experiences on specific methodologies for sampling of consignments such as sampling of consignment for seed and plant propagating materials, fresh fruits and vegetables, grain for food/feed in containers and non-containers, cut flowers and heterogeneous consignments. The discussion also discussed on sampling method for inspection at packing facilities and production site. The discussions have identified the main elements for appropriate methodologies for sampling of consignments which could be harmonized within the region. There were also several suggestions proposed for further follow-up actions at country and regional levels to ensure implementation of ISPM 31 could be accelerated. The regional workshop recommended that the APPPC working group on ISPM 31 could developed action plan based on these suggestions and present the action plan in the 30th APPPC convention for endorsement and potential funding. The full report is attach</p><p>&nbsp;</p>