Citrus production, mainly of orange and grapefruit, has virtually disappeared in the domestic market due to the fierce attack of the Greening or Huanglongbing (HLB) disease, which has destroyed millions of citrus trees around the world.
A small or medium sweet orange can cost from 5 to 10 pesos. Grapefruit is even more expensive, as the unit costs more than 25 pesos, when there is production.
The sale of these fruits on tricycles, wagons, and small trucks is no longer common. Sour lime production has also declined as a result of the disease, but it's situation is not so serious because there are still plantations that have survived the pest.
Sour orange is also scarce and expensive. Other pests are affecting the plants here, such as Citrus Tristeza.
Many consumers are wondering why citrus have almost disappeared from the local market. The reality of the disease in the country:
The disease was first reported in 2008 in Puerto Plata, but specialists in the field say that it arrived before (in 2000 or 2001).
The HLB disease spread throughout the whole country, attacking oranges, grapefruit, mandarins, sour lime, and sour orange crops, which have proved stronger.
Thousands of fresh orange and orange for juice, mandarin, grapefruit, and lime crops have been devastated in different parts of the country, such as in the Barcelo family citrus production estate, located in Hato Mayor, in the east.
In these farms production has been reduced to a minimum because of the HLB. According to producers and technicians, the disease is still difficult to control, especially in a country where many people have diseased plants in their backyards and where there are many others in abandoned plots.
Some companies with large citrus plantations imported new technologies and healthy materials to produce the plants in closed nurseries to prevent the plants from getting sick; a project that was unsuccessful and virtually abandoned.
Following the explosion of the disease, the Ministry of Agriculture created a multidisciplinary committee, which includes the Dominican Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Research (Idiaf), the Center for Agricultural and Forestry Development (Cedaf), nurseries, and associated producers.
The private agricultural business sector, which is interested in solving the problem, donated equipment for the diagnosis of systemic diseases and resources for operational expenses amounting to $150,000 dollars to the Idiaf.
The purpose of this proposal was to establish the technology platform for the production of certified buds of different citrus varieties free of HLB and major systemic diseases affecting citrus, through a program to certify buds from a sanitized genebank.
However, technicians have stated that everything has been performed so slowly that it's been impossible to implement an effective technology package against the HLB, a disease that has destroyed more than 100 million trees in the world.
Source: hoy.com.do