The government has made it mandatory for imported fresh vegetables and fruits to undergo chemical testing before getting customs clearance. However, most of the customs points bordering India do not have a dedicated chemical testing lab, forcing traders to send the imported produce off to faraway laboratories, which are not properly equipped themselves.

This to and fro from the customs point to the lab has raised import costs and consumers are paying higher prices in the market, said traders.

The government enacted a new Pesticides Act last year, asking importers to receive chemical free certification in order to import the farm products. “The regulation has barred the import of vegetables and fruits without undergoing testing of chemical residues,” said Binod Bhattarai, senior agriculture officer and information officer of Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

According to the agriculture ministry, around 15 customs points including several small customs offices have quarantine laboratories. However, many of them do not have proper equipment to test the chemicals present in the farm items. “While the labs can test for chemicals on the surface of the farm produce, they are not able to ascertain if the edibles might contain chemicals inside,” said Bhattarai.

Apart from the quarantine check posts, the ministry has been operating the Rapid Bioassay for Pesticide Residue Laboratory (RBPR) in seven locations—Kalimati, Birtamod, Malangwa, Nepalgunj, Attariya, Butwal and Pokhara. Vegetable and fruit importers need to get their products tested in any of these laboratories before they make it to the market.

Last year, the government brought to operation a RBPR laboratory in Kalimati, and set the threshold for chemical residue of up to 35 percent in fruits and vegetables as fit for sale in the market. Anything higher will not be issued a customs clearance. The agriculture ministry said that they had recorded pesticide and chemical residue as high as 85 percent in the past.

Apart from having inadequate facilities in quarantine check posts, the RBPR laboratories in Kalimati, Pokhara, Butwal and Nepalgunj have also been running amid poor conditions, blamed mainly on the lack of testing kits and technical manpower.

According to the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, producers and sellers of farm edibles mainly inject calcium carbide to ripen fruits and vegetables faster and to make them look visibly attractive. A number of antibiotics are also being used to protect the farm products from various types of diseases.

“These could pose a serious risk to consumers’ health,” said Purna Chandra Wasti, spokesperson of the department.

Bhattarai of the agriculture ministry said they are planning to upgrade the quarantine post with modern equipment in the next fiscal year. “In addition, the ministry has targeted to issue the electronic certification of sanitary and phyto-sanitary testing of the imported fruits and vegetables.”

Khom Prasad Ghimire, president of the Federation of Fruits and Vegetables Entrepreneurs Nepal, said hundreds of trucks loaded with imported fruits and vegetables have remained stranded at the border areas following the government’s new regulation. According to him, importers are compelled to get the certificates from chemical testing laboratories, which has delayed the supply of the farm products and increased the risk of imported goods decaying in the containers in which they are stocked.

“Had the quarantine labs at customs points been equipped with the required facilities, it could have helped improve the supply while reducing the costs as well,” said Ghimire adding, that the sellers are positive on the government’s new regulation.

As per the federation, the country imports a large chunk of fruits via Birgunj, Bhairahawa and Kakadbhitta customs. Ghimire urged the government to build necessary labs in major entry points along with forming standards for local products to effectively implement the laws.

Traders said the restriction measure has also pushed the market price of the farm products. Giving an example, Ghimire said with the reason, price of mango has surged to Rs200 per kg from Rs110 per kg in the past few days.

Ram Krishna Kunwar, executive director of Fruits and Vegetable Management, Balkhu, said they had not received the Indian products such as pointed gourd, jackfruit, mushroom and a number of fruits in over a week. “As of now, the local supply has helped maintain price stability to some extent despite the fall in imported products by around 40 percent,” said Kunwar expressing his concern on the small volume of domestic products to meet the market demand in the long term.