One of Spain’s top fresh produce associations is calling on the Spanish government and the European Union to exercise “extreme vigilance” to ensure that citrus greening does not arrive in the country, following the disease’s appearance in California.
Ava-Asaja, which represents producers in Spain’s key citrus production region of Valencia, has demanded that the authorities put in place safeguards at ports to make sure the “devastating” plant disease does not arrive in the Iberian peninsula through US citrus imports.
The organisation’s call follows last month’s report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that customs authorities along the California’s border with Mexico have also been placed on high alert after the insect which transmits the disease was discovered in the border city of Tijuana.
The USDA has also embarked on a massive information campaign after greening was detected in oranges in Louisiana.
Ava-Asaja president Cristóbal Aguado said: “Greening is already killing thousands of citrus trees in tropical climates such as Brazil and the US state of Florida. If, as the USDA suspects, the bacteria can adapt to the Mediterranean climate of California then that is very worrying because it increases the possibilities that the disease could arrive here and endanger the Valencian and Spanish citrus industry.”
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