Quarantine of Plants

the group of measures taken by the state to prevent the introduction and spread of the pests, diseases, and weeds presenting the greatest danger to farm crops.

The quarantine of plants is aimed at protecting the plant resources of the nation. Each year plant pests and diseases destroy 20-25 percent of the potential world harvest of food crops (equaling $50 billion, according to the average price level on the world market). According to the calculations (1969) of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for Plant Protection, the value of the farm products that could be obtained on the kolkhozes and sovkhozes of the USSR by eliminating the probable annual crop losses caused by pests, diseases, and weeds would come to around 10 billion rubles.

The first law on the quarantine of plants appeared in France in 1660 in response to epiphytotics of stem rust. From 1870 through 1915, quarantine laws were passed by a majority of the nations with developed agricultural production that were involved in the exchange of plant materials (Germany, France, Australia, Austria, the United States, Mexico). By the 1970’s, more than 100 nations had established quarantine regulations and had set up institutions for supervising their execution. In Russia, the first quarantine law for plants was issued in 1873. In 1931 the USSR created a quarantine service that exercises general leadership over quarantine measures through the State Quarantine Inspectorate of the Central Administration for Plant Protection (under the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR), along with republic and oblast quarantine inspectorates that are subordinate to it. In the same year, the first list of quarantine diseases and pests was established. In 1935 a list of quarantine weeds was established as well. These lists are periodically revised as the various types of harmful organisms are studied (area of distribution, biology, ecology) and the quarantine state of foreign countries reviewed. (The list approved in 1967 contained the quarantine pests listed in Table 1, the diseases listed in Table 2, and the weeds listed in Table 3.)

The duties of the quarantine service include the inspection of plants, seeds, planting stock, grain products, fruits, and vegetables

in order to uncover the presence of dangerous pests, the pathogens of plant diseases, and quarantine weeds in large commercial lots and packages, in the parcels, hand luggage, and baggage of passengers arriving from other states, and in the vehicles, warehouses, and enterprises where imported products subject to quarantine are stored and processed. Internal quarantine regulates the shipping of plant materials within the country; external quarantine protects the state against foreign pests, diseases, and weeds.

The plant quarantine service of the USSR operates in cooperation with the equivalent service in other states. In 1956 the USSR joined the international Rome Convention on Plant Quarantine and Protection. In 1957 it joined the European and Mediterranean Organization for Plant Protection. In 1960 it ratified the Cooperative Agreement Plant Quarantine and Protection, concluded between the member states of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. In addition, bilateral agreements have been established with 11 neighboring states stipulating reciprocal obligations for combating dangerous plant pests, diseases, and weeds.