The Trade Safe Project (TraSa), ISA University, and the Association of Banana Producers (ADOBANANO) signed an inter-institutional collaboration agreement to implement strategic actions and strengthen the value chain of organic bananas for export to the European Union. 

The agreement was signed by the principal of the University, Eng. Benito Ferreiras, Brian Rudert, director of the TraSa project, financed by the Department of Agriculture of the United States Embassy, and Hilario Pellegrini, president of ADOBANANO, at the headquarters of the academic institution. 

The participants committed themselves to promoting, designing, and implementing a plan to monitor and analyze pesticide residues in the organic banana plantations belonging to the members of ADOBANANO, allowing them to have a reliable database. That will help producers and exporters to maintain control of the crop protection products they use on their farms, allowing this, in turn, better compliance with international requirements. 

Mr Ferreiras stated that the University, through its Food Safety and Industrial Analysis Laboratory, is committed to leading the design of the monitoring plan. That is, defining the sampling procedure according to what is established by the European Union and carrying out the necessary pesticide residue analyses upon request and delivery of a sample by ADOBANANO. 

Brian Rudert and Hilario Pellegrini undertook to design the residue monitoring plan to be implemented in the organic banana plantations, in addition to financing the total cost of the analyzes to be carried out in the residue determination pilot program, which will be up to a total of 200 samples in a year. 

The TraSa Project is executed in the Dominican Republic by the non-profit organization International Executive Service Corps (IESC). It aims to strengthen the implementation of phytosanitary measures that favour the production and marketing of agricultural products.