On December 2, 2025, Belize's Minister of Agriculture, Food Security, and New Growth Industries, Rodwell Ferguson, visited Citrus Products of Belize Ltd (CPBL) for discussions on the current state of the citrus sector. He was joined by senior adviser Hugh O'Brien and the Ministry's Director of Projects, Jose Novelo. The CPBL board briefed the delegation on industry challenges, operational issues, and future production outlook.
Following the meeting, the minister visited a young citrus orchard at Caves Branch on the Hummingbird Highway in the Stann Creek District. The site contains four new orange varieties and two new grapefruit varieties with tolerance to citrus greening. Several varieties are reported to show high productivity levels, with some trees producing up to two bags of oranges per tree at five to six years of age.
According to the Ministry, "2 to 3 of these new varieties have shown remarkable growth and fruit production at such a young age, surpassing industry expectations." The field visit, led by O'Brien, provided the ministry with updated information on varietal performance and current field conditions.
The Ministry stated that insights gained from the CPBL meeting and orchard visit reflect the impact of government support programs aimed at revitalising the citrus sector. It also noted that production could potentially reach one million or more boxes in the near future, depending on cultivar performance and orchard expansion.
Source: BBN
