| Hence, infested fruits that arrived at the packing house may reach the export market within a few days after packing. However, a few days after leaving the packing house, the infestation becomes easier to detect. The result is repeated interceptions at the export markets, of fruits with chemical residues or infested by fruit flies. The outcome of such interceptions is a warning to the country where fruits came from. When it repeats itself, the exporting country is risking a total Export Ban! When that happens, the Export Ban is imposed on all growers and produce arriving from that country, regardless of big, small, professional or not. Meaning, the professional grower and the smallholder, BOTH and ALL, will not be able to export. Their future, when it comes to exporting mango, is intertwined, and tightly coupled. Such is their Current Status. THE DREAM STATUS The farmer I was talking with is aware of the fact that too often, the fruits infested by fruit flies or with chemical residues come from, unprofessional small growers, who are unable to properly cope with the Export Protocol's demands. Smallholders are precisely the kind of growers that endanger his business and his economic future. Why? Because professional growers are ready to invest huge sums, basing their investments on the export markets, knowing that local markets can offer a lower income, which is not sufficient to cover their investments. The mango grower in this story recognizes the risk to his agri-business that is introduced by poor quality mangoes, with chemical residues and infested by fruit flies, which are often originating from smallholders and ending up in export markets. Now we see why the farmer's dream makes sense and is VERY reasonable from his point of view. He simply wants to be able to continue exporting, and he doesn’t want troubles coming from smallholders. After all, he is simply taking care of his business and understands the situation well. THE FARMER'S DREAM WILL COME TRUE, BUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY Current situation hard facts – 1. Today in Senegal, there are thousands of mango growers, most of which are smallholders. 2. In Africa, mangoes' average infestation by fruit flies is 50%, and so is the case in Senegal. 3. Despite tremendous efforts, for decades, there has been no significant improvement in the ability to control fruit flies. 4. The state of Senegal, for its part, is trying to impose the export protocol on smallholders, but with limited success. In my view, the Mango grower's dream to see effective fruit fly control without chemical residues, to be executed by all farmers, including smallholders, is not realistic or practically feasible in the near future. Does this mean that our mango grower has no other option? Does it mean that he is sentenced to wait until one dark day he will be noticed that his country is under Export Ban, which means that he will lose his livelihood and life investment? It is not possible under the current concept and protocol, but it is achievable if we change our concept and protocol, as explained in the next part. THE SOLUTION THAT MADE OUR FARMER SMILE After understanding his concerns, I explained to the farmer what he already knows – "The state has tried but in most cases failed to help the smallholders export mangoes free of fruit flies and chemical residues. The state failed because under current conditions; it is impossible to reach that target, no matter how good is the fruit fly control solution. If we are open to adopting a new concept, then there is another possibility. Such possibility/, other option, deals with the situation that even if the export is banned due to irresponsible export of certain growers, you will be able to continue exporting. In such a situation, the future of your export depends only on you, not on any other grower. What do you think about that?" Our farmer's face lit up, and a wide smile came over his face. "that is very interesting, tell me more," he said. "Look," I said, "in the current situation, even if you export fruit that is 100% free of fruit flies and chemical residues, you may find yourself unable to export, because your future is interlinked and depends on the ability of ALL mango exporters in the country to export at Export Quality, meaning you are all in the same pot. As we understand, today, some exporters fail to meet the requirements, and from time to time, fruits infested by fruit flies or with chemical residues are intercepted in the export markets. Today all mango exporters work according to the same Export Protocol, controlling fruit flies in the same ways, spray the same chemicals, use the same traps, and perform the same fruit fly monitoring. Hence, we should not be surprised that results are also (more or less) similar to the regional average - 50% fruit infestation by fruit flies, the need to harvest early even before fruits are properly mature and conclude exports early in the season. These are risky and undesirable results! But what if there was a new concept of a different Export Protocol, one with even stricter quality standard, one that is using a far more effective fruit fly control technology, with far more advanced monitoring and quality assurance process? Furthermore, what if this new protocol is applied separately to each (large) farmer or large area, and the fruits are marked with a special quality label?! In this case, if infested mangoes are intercepted in an export market, we will know from which grower it is coming, and which protocol he was using, i.e., the old or the new protocol. Hence, only growers using a specific protocol or even from a certain project will go under an Export Ban (or asked to improve). You see, whoever follows a different protocol, and more stringent, will be able to continue exporting as usual. His fate will depend only on his actions and results." I then continued and shared with the grower, "My friend, there is such protocol and it is called - Fruit Fly Certified Trade Zone (FFCTZ), and there is a fruit quality brand, called – Green Valley. The FFCTZ protocol is part of the Green Valley protocol, and is based on the use of a powerful revolutionary fruit fly control solution, the FreeDome. In addition, FFCTZ is incorporating and applying advanced knowledge and knowhow from several related fields, including fruit fly ecology, fruit fly population dynamics, monitoring fruit fly population and infestation, risk assessment, and more, in a way that allows Export Quality to be achieved even from locations/places/farms that until now, due to fruit flies, no one even dreamed of exporting [>><<]. What do you think about it?" The mango grower just smiled and said - "Mama! When can we start?" At this point, the mango grower can start safely export once he realizes that by applying that concept he should not worried anymore about the quality of other growers, including the smallholders. If you ask, "what about the smallholders?" I will say that they too can export, as is the current case in Israel. It is doable if the smallholders organize, and together form a sizable Fruit Fly Certified Trade Zone project. Moreover, if their quality will be high enough maybe they can even export under Green Valley brand. This is how they will be able to freely and safely export, increasing their income without endangering anyone else's export.
I believe that making this world a better place is possible through combining Good-Business with Doing-Good for the Consumers, the Farmers, and our Blue Planet Environment. Contact me if you wish to kick-start your economy or national scale operation using advanced economic models, protocols, and field-tested agricultural technologies. Let's see how together we can take it a GIANT step forward. | 
