HLB leaves 40,000 people jobless in Mexico

The president for the Lemon State Council, Oscar Ávalos Verdugo, informed that in the last few years 40,000 people lost their jobs due to the yellow dragon disease, that became a serious problem for the state citrus culture.

He pointed out that this subject is delicate as there's the risk of growing unemployment and such a situation can cause social problems, and because of it he appealed to the state Congress, asking local deputies to support them in managing an emerging budget to present to the government and the federation.

Interviewed at the local government's gathering, Ávalos Verdugo expressed that 60% of the 23,000 hectares of lemon are contaminated by HLB or yellow dragon disease, "and because no one does anything about it, the consequence of this disease will be the death of lemon in the coming years".

He stated that producers are worried by the crisis as consequence of the disease, but more than that there's anxiety for the social situation as a result of the HLB and the lack of support to attend to the emergency.

"We are used to a good social standard, so because of other things and now the yellow dragon disease, it could mean negative situations for our citizens".

Ávalos Verdugo indicated that this activity generates 20,000 daily jobs and the Universtity of Colima and INIFAP mentioned that when HLB showed up in Colima, production dropped 50% from one year to the next. "We estimate that when the disease was detected in 2010, our production was of 460,000 tons per year and in 2011 we are below 300,000 tons", he ended.

Source: Diarioavanzada