Problems In Plant Quarantine In China And The Countermeasures

Pest invasion has become one of the most serious problems aroused general concern in the world nowadays. It is even common in China. According to the officially announced data, 107 kinds of foreign grasses, 32 kinds of foreign pest insects and 23 kinds of foreign pathogens have been recorded to invade and settle down in China. These invaders have brought great damages to agriculture, forestry, bio-diversity, eco-environment and social economies. It is estimated that the annual economic loss caused by these invading pests amounts to 57.4 billion RMB, beside the cost of 1.4 billion RMB for control. In other countries, invading pests also cause dramatic economic loss. It is reported that in United States that is about 150 billion USD, in India is about 130 billion USD and in South Africa is over 80 billion USD. More over, there is more other recessive loss unestimable, such as the vanishing of native species, the disability and death of human beings, and the devaluing of esthetics related with environmental alteration caused by invading pests.Plant quarantine is an important measure that a nation or local government apply compulsorily to prevent foreign pests from entering and spreading. It is carried out by pest risk assessment, quarantine object identification, quarantine and non-quarantine area determination, quarantine inspection and treatment, etc, and involves many factors such as related law, trade, technique guarantees, information management, and administration, etc. Plant quarantine works with a comprehensive management system. China began to carry out the phytosanitary action pretty late. As a result, its background is weak; the citizen's consciousness is poor, and need to be strengthened.In this paper, the author focused on collecting and analyzing of the recently reported data concerning the invasion of foreign pests, the inspection of foreign pests, the losses and the redeeming in relation to the plant quarantine on our plant and plant products exportation, the general situation of the foreign pests throughout the world, and so on. Large numbers of data and examples were laid out to emphasize the importance of entry & exit plant quarantine. Data analysis demonstrated that the foreign pests inspected go up with the increase of import and export of plant and plant products. The main causes of the plant quarantine problems can be summed up as 7, namely: 1). Neglect plant quarantine or do not abide by the quarantine rules in international trade activities; 2) For economic benefits, put away the consciousness of quarantine, and introduce plants and plant products from other countries blindly and without necessary surveillance on importation; 3) The laws relate to the quarantine is not strong enough, the means and techniques of inspections fall behind,the PRA lags far behind, and there are no prior alarming system and quick reaction system; 4) During conveyance, store and process of mass import plant merchandise, not comply with the regulation related, and dispose the leftover bits and pieces in an improper way; 5) Cann't discover the pests in time, which involves the unsatisfied supervision on production of plant products and the producer's negative attitude towards the quarantine; 6) Contamination on the finished products. The fact is that we sometimes only pay attention on the quarantine on plants and plants products, while ignore the packing, transportation instrument, the warehouse and other regulated articles; the knowledge and skill may hammer a limit of inspection accuracy; the sense of responsibility can also affect the result of quarantine; 7) The measures of technique barrier on trade.According to the international phytosanitary laws and taking into account of the problems we encounter currently in the process of our plant quarantines in foreign trade, consulting the predecessor's research, we can come to a conclusion of countermeasures in 8 ways. They are: 1) To be strict on the plant quarantine for the import and export plant and plant products, the conveyance tool, packing material etc.; 2) To enforc...