EU Lifts Ban on Tanzanian Bitter Gourd Following a Ban Instituted in November 2022

The EU has lifted the ban on Tanzania’s bitter gourd allowing producers and exporters to access its lucrative markets again. The EU detected the presence of a quarantine pest hosted in the product in November 2022, prompting the European Commission to prohibit the bitter gourd crop export into EU markets. Tanzania exported around 220MT of bitter gourd between January 2021 and July 2022 to the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, earning USD 691K.

Tanzania was required to present the EU with the pest surveillance report proving the absence of ThripspalmiKarny for it to be allowed to export bitter gourd again. Fortunately, the results indicated that Tanzania is free from ThripspalmiKarny and that the bitter gourd is produced in an area that is free from Spodopterafrugiperda. In the November 2022 and May 2023 seasons, farmers were expected to export 1,400MT and generate USD 4.2M which did not materialize.