On Wednesday 15 June, Senasa Argentina confirmed that, as a result of contingency tasks implemented by this organism, a number of new positive cases of Huanglongbing (HLB) were detected. Two weeks ago, a couple of plants infected with the bacteria were found, so we proceeded to conduct intensive monitoring and laboratory analysis, which resulted in a total of seven specimens found to be infected with the bacteria. Since that time, the exposed areas have been quarantined and preventive measures have been adopted.
"We believe that the infected plants have been smuggled from Paraguay. In the past, we had come across some positive cases, but it had always been on domestic plants; it is the first time that it is found in plantations. We believe that the chance of it spreading is small, since the vector population is almost zero, according to the latest statistics. At this time, extra controls are underway to limit the entry of plants being smuggled," affirm those responsible for Senasa.
It is worth stressing that a plan of preventive measures has been enforced across the country since 2009 with the collaboration of the nurseries. Since then, only seedlings from certified seeds can be used to ensure that all plants undergo a process of control and certification. Also, once the fruit is harvested for marketing, it has to be subjected to a disinfection process at the packing facilities.
"A thorough monitoring is being carried out in the province of Misiones, and we are only talking about a couple of plants affected in certain places, so we cannot talk about a spread at provincial level. If we take into account that Misiones has an average of 6,000 hectares and only seven plants have been affected, it is actually not a big percentage, nor a reason to raise any alarms," assures our source.