Inor Ag. Assmann
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In all Countries where citrus farming is
economically important, long term research
works to keep the Huanglongbing under
control, known in Brazil as HLB or green-
ing, are underway and should, in the fu-
ture, come up with more tools to help man-
age this disease. However, there is no doubt
that there is no single solution for keeping
the scourge under control. The integration
of measures is, and will be, fundamental for
the success of the citrus grower in light of
this challenge, in the opinion of Renato Bas-
sanezi, researcher at Fundecitrus.
Citrus farmers who have opted for put-
ting up with the disease in their orchards,
were not able to curb the advance of the dis-
ease and, gradually, their orchards suffered
steep productivity reductions, and they end-
ed up getting out of the citrus business. “On
the other hand, the producers who got orga-
Light
on the horizon
Integrationof control
measures has proved to
be themost effective
manner to fight
against the serious
risks representedby HBL
infestations, orgreening
nized, adhered to regional management and
entered into partnerships with their neigh-
bors, following the recommendations re-
garding the control of the insect, whilst elim-
inating infected plants, managed to keep the
greening outbreaks down and the produc-
tivity of their orchards up”, says Bassanezi.
These actions have reduced HLB out-
breaks to a stable profile in the citrus belt,
for the first time since the disease was iden-
tified. The sampling survey conducted by
Fundecitrus officials showed that, in 2016,
17.89% of the plants in the citrus belt were
infected with the greening disease, a num-
ber similar to 2015. “This lower growing
speed of the disease was mainly due to the
eradication of adult orchards highly infect-
ed and little productive, besides the strict
management practices by the citrus farm-
ers”, the researcher notes.
Even so, the problem has not been
solved yet, once the incidence of the pest
in newly established orchards is on a rising
trend and HLB severity continues high, al-
though not as severe as in other countries
that have to put up with the disease. A fact
that attests that strict management, with the
eradication of infected plants, should be
continued, so as to prevent the outbreaks
from soaring even further.
Marcos Antonio Machado, researcher at
the Agronomic Institute (IAC), a division of
the São Paulo State Secretariat of Agricul-
ture and Supply, and director of the Syl-
vio Moreira Citrus Center, understands that
Brazil opted for the right track by adopt-
ing a set of initiatives to minimize the con-
sequences of the disease, while no final so-
lution is discovered. “In the United States
research works are focused on coming up
with a radical solution, a silver bullet, and
this has been drastically affecting the pro-
duction volume of the crop”, he declares.
