The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) declared a municipality in Jalisco and three municipalities of Michoacan as free of various pests that affect avocado, giving producers the opportunity to market their products in more favorable conditions in the domestic and international markets.
According to the declarations published in the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF), the municipalities of Quitupan, Jalisco; Charo, New Urecho and Tangancicuaro in the state of Michoacan, are free of the large avocado seed weevil (Heilipus lauri), the small avocado seed weevil (Conotrachelus aguacatae Y C. perseae) and the avocado seed borer (Stenoma catenifer).
This recognition positively impacts the producers of these municipalities, as it eliminates the phytosanitary restrictions for national mobilization and export of avocados applied to regions with a presence of well known pests, such as the avocado seed borers.
The declaration of a free zone improves the phytosanitary status of the avocado producing areas in Mexico and gives producers the opportunity to market their products on more favorable terms, both in the international and domestic markets, as it gives them opportunity to export this fruit as Made in Mexico.
Meanwhile, experts from the Directorate General of Plant Health, the National Health Service, Food Safety and Quality (SENASICA), and delegations of SAGARPA in Jalisco and Michoacan, conducted phytosanitary measures to determine the absence of avocado seed borers, based on assessments of the pest status in these regions.
They confirmed that producers were complying with the provisions of the Official Mexican Standards NOM-066-FITO-2002 and NOM-069-FITO-1995. To maintain the status and protect the areas free of the avocado seed borers, producers must implement the measures set out in the standards.
Source: cambiodemichoacan.mx