The head of a task force that is responsible for cracking down on the trade in unripe durian, claims that his abrupt transfer was engineered by a group of unscrupulous durian exporters. Previously, his unit had been quite successful in restoring the reputation of Thai durians, which had been tainted by unripe fruit entering the market.
Chonlatee Numnoo, head of the ‘Leb Yiew’ task force and director of 6th regional office of the Office of Agricultural Research and Development, said that his reassignment to director of the Plant Standard and Certification Division is quite a suspect swap of positions “without prior notification or discussion.”
He claims that his transfer might affect the operations of the task force, which has been cracking down on the trade in unripe fruit for the past two years. Thailand’s main durian harvest commences in March and peaks in mid-May and June. Prices are highest in the early part of the season, while the harvest volume is still low, providing an incentive for unscrupulous farmers and traders to harvest and distribute their durian before they have reached an appropriate stage of ripeness.
Chonlatee said that the dedication of his team has hurt unscrupulous traders, who probably want him out of their way. He also said that his main concern now is not only exports of unripe Thai durians, but the fact that some traders have been importing cheaper and inferior fruit from Vietnam and then exporting it to China, labelled as Thai durian.
Source: thaipbsworld.com
