Rio Grande do Sul conducts new Greening monitoring cycle.

The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Sustainable Production and Irrigation (Seapi), through the Plant Health Defense Division (DDSV), carried out another stage of its work this week to prevent HLB/Greening, a disease that has caused significant losses to citrus farming in several Brazilian states. The Plant Health Defense teams were in the municipalities of Harmonia and Bom Princípio installing new traps to detect the insect. diaphorina citri, transmitter of the bacteria that causes the disease.

The initiative is part of the 2025/2026 monitoring cycle, which includes the installation of more than 350 yellow sticky traps distributed across dozens of municipalities. The devices are replaced and analyzed every two weeks and will continue until March 2026.

The program is preventative in nature and seeks to prevent the entry and spread of Greening disease in Rio Grande do Sul. The disease, caused by the bacterium Candidatus liberibacter, has already compromised producing areas in the Southeast and other regions of the world. To date, there are no records of the pest in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

“Rio Grande do Sul has not yet registered any occurrence of this disease, which exempts us from adopting more complex cultural practices. If the disease were to establish itself here, the impact would be devastating, especially for small producers, who represent the majority of our citrus farming,” highlights the head of DDSV/Seapi, Deise Feltes Riffel.

According to her, states with more intensive citrus farming, such as São Paulo, face high costs associated with chemical control of the insect. “Maintaining citrus farming as a small-scale activity would be severely compromised. Therefore, monitoring is essential. Our goal with the traps is to detect the presence of the insect and, if found, to perform analyses to ensure the absence of the bacteria. In previous years, we captured some specimens, but none were contaminated,” she emphasizes.

Monitoring is part of the action plan to maintain the HLB-free phytosanitary status of the Federative Units (UFs), according to the ordinance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SDA/Mapa nº 1.326/2025). The strategy involves partnerships with municipalities through agreements that reinforce insect surveillance and sanitary education actions. In return, Seapi offers technical support, training, informational materials, and yellow sticky traps.

Results from the last cycle

In the 2024/2025 cycle, more than 350 traps were also installed in 77 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul. By the end of March 2025, 57 insects had been captured and sent for analysis, all with negative results for HLB/Greening, confirming the absence of the pest in the state.

Among the main symptoms of the disease are yellowing of the leaves, small, deformed fruits with a bitter taste, as well as a drop in productivity and death of plants such as orange, lemon and bergamot trees.

Producers who identify suspicious symptoms should immediately notify the Department of Agriculture via email at vigifito@agricultura.rs.gov.br.

Action plan

The Ministry of Agriculture's ordinance mandates that states develop an action plan to maintain their status as free from outbreaks. Candidatus LiberibacterThe document from Rio Grande do Sul, prepared by Seapi and sent to the Ministry of Agriculture in early November, establishes preventive measures to ensure that the state remains free of the pest and defines contingency procedures in case the contaminated insect or bacteria is detected.