THE National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) will soon clamp down on persons who are importing agricultural commodities and regulated articles without a permit.

“In the past, persons were importing without permits and we have thought about it…we would have given persons time to comply with the law, but we have decided that it is time to clamp down,” said Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of NAREI, Brian Sears in an invited comment on Wednesday.
NAREI had issued a notice which advised the public that the importation of agricultural

commodities and regulated articles including fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, plants and plant parts, timber and timber products and so forth, require an import permit as stipulated by the Plant Protection Act #9 Part III: Imports.
“Failure to have the requisite permit prior to importation will result in legal actions being taken against defaulters including confiscation of imported commodities as well as the imposition of penalties – fines and imprisonment for the offence as per the legislation,” said the institute.

Sears said the institute had found that the importation of agricultural commodities was prevalent in border communities such as Lethem and Berbice, where smuggling of goods is pervasive.

“We plan on doing more monitoring in those and other areas to ensure that persons have a permit before they import…we will be checking to see where else it is being done and see if there are staff in those areas…we will also visit supermarkets, shops and stores,” he said.
Most of the monitoring exercises will be conducted by the National Plant Protection Organisation. The mandate of the organisation is to regulate and promote trade of agricultural commodities.

Sears said the organisation is the section of NAREI which deals with monitoring, so they will deploy quarantine officers and take other measures to ensure that areas are properly monitored.

For further information on the process, persons can contact the National Plant Protection Organisation on 220-5858, 220-2456 or 220-5217 or email at nppogy@gmail.com.