Tucumán citrus farmers are already harvesting the first fruits that will either be devoted to the processing industry or be subject to a certification process to make it comply with all the requirements stipulated by SENASA for the export of fresh fruit to the international markets, some of which have quarantine restrictions, like the European Union and other nations with similar regulations.
The truth is that producers always expect a good harvest campaign in terms of quality and volumes to cover both the fixed and variable production costs, which have greatly increased in recent months, and to be able to make a profit and achieve some stability over time.
The problem is that Tucumán's current campaign is exclusively characterised by quality, as the volumes harvested won't be even half as large as usual for the region.
According to estimates from technicians and experts, the drop in lemon harvest volumes this season (May-August) will be greater than 50% and even close to 60%.
The sector will be profoundly affected by this, as the decline is very significant considering that Tucumán normally exports around 270,000 tonnes of fresh fruit and devotes one million to the processing sector.
This year's production has been estimated at around 600,000 tonnes, and fresh fruit exports will continue to be made to ensure the market's sustainability. This implies that some 170,000 to 180,000 tonnes of fresh fruit will be exported.
For this reason, the processing sector will be left with just around 400,000 tonnes.
HLB is present in neighbouring countries, especially in Brazil, and is already in Misiones, whose plants were eradicated. The presence of the uncontaminated vector was also detected in the NOA regions. It is worth noting that Tucumán is still classified as "Zone 1", ie, absence of the vector and the bacteria.
This differentiates us from other of the country's producing areas and it is thus essential to retain the "Zone 1" status for the province. To achieve this, greater efforts are needed.
Citriculture is the region's second biggest activity in financial terms, accounting for a large part of the provincial GDP; consequently, keeping it in place and, if possible, making it grow is an ongoing need and should be considered a state issue. The disease was detected in isolated plants in Misiones and there are concerns about the possibility of the vector being already present in other provinces. Luckily for Tucumán, the vector insect (Diaphorina citri), has not been detected, nor the bacteria that causes the disease (Candidatus Liberibacter spp.).
There is no doubt about how dangerous this bacterial disease is, illustrated by the damages it has caused in Brazil, where over 30 million citrus plants had to be destroyed and drastic measures had to be adopted to reduce the spread. All infected plants must be removed and ongoing monitoring should be performed, with strict control measures against the vector insect.
Source: La Gaceta