Rio Grande do Norte has 20 municipalities recognized as free from fruit flies

The state of Rio Grande do Norte already has 20 municipalities recognized as fruit fly-free areas (anastrepha grow up), after validation by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) expansion of the Pest Free Area (ALP). The establishment and official recognition of an ALP is an essential condition for Brazilian products to access international markets for which the pest is absent and presents economic importance.  

The municipalities that are now part of the Anastrepha grandis of Rio Grande do Norte are: Mossoró, Tibau, Grossos, Areia Branca, Serra do Mel, Baraúna, Assú, Afonso Bezerra, Alto do Rodrigues, Ipanguassu, Porto do Mangue, Upanema, Apodi, Gov. Dix-Sept Rosado, Felipe Guerra , Caraúbas, Macau, Pendências, Jandaíra and Pedro Avelino. 

For the Federal Superintendent of Agriculture in RN, Roberto Carlos Razera Papa, the expansion provides opportunities for the expansion of business, employment and income in the state. “In addition to the export programs already underway for Mercosur, North America and China, other Asian countries have already shown interest in melon produced without phytosanitary risk for A. grandis, event celebrated with great joy and confidence from producers in the work that has been successfully coordinated by the Department of Plant Health of Mapa of the state of Potiguar for three decades”, he celebrates. 

Brazil is the third largest fruit producer in the world, with annual production of around 40 million tons, with only around 3% of this production being exported. In May this year, Mapa published the Ordinance No. 305, which recognizes the expansion of the fruit fly pest-free area in the states of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte. 

The recognition is the result of work coordinated by the Department of Plant Health, Agricultural Defense Division, Inspection, Surveillance and Plant Health Service, of the Federal Superintendence of Agriculture of Rio Grande do Norte (SFA-RN) and in which the Institute of Defense and Agricultural Inspection of Rio Grande do Norte (Idiarn), Executive Committee of Fruit Culture of Rio Grande do Norte (Coex), Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid Rio Grande do Norte (Ufersa) and the entire melon producing and exporting class of the Large northern river. 

History

The Fruit Fly Pest Free Area was recognized by the USA in the 90s with just two municipalities in RN, Mossoró and Apodi. In 2008, it expanded to 13 municipalities in RN and seven in Ceará. It is currently recognized by the USA, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and China, with important melon and watermelon export programs. 

Former Federal Agriculture delegate in RN and federal agricultural tax auditor Evádio Pereira, whose management initiated the ALP project A. grandis In the 90s, he recalls that the work in the state began with phytosanitary analyzes of melons, samples and cuts, traps and monitoring in the buffer area of ​​the forests that surrounded the production fields, to check if there were hosts of the pest. 

“After presenting a three-year report on this innovative experience, they asked the Ministry of Agriculture to recognize the free area,” he says. After negotiation with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), international certification was obtained. “This fact opened the doors to experiments in exporting melons to the USA and, later, to other crops such as bananas and mangoes, which do not have hosts for the pest.” 

Partnership with fruit producers 

For the president of Agrícola Famosa, Luiz Roberto Barcelos, the expansion is an asset of inestimable value for the region. “It will allow us to expand our products to countries that require melon fruit to come from a fruit fly-free area, as is the case with the recent open market in China, as well as Argentina, Chile and the United States , including also the markets that we are about to open, such as Vietnam and the Philippines”, says Barcelos, who is also former president of the Brazilian Association of Fruit and Derivatives Exporters (Abrafrutas). 

He also highlights that the expansion of this existing area will allow tropical fruit producers in Rio Grande do Norte to export more, generate more jobs, distribute more income and reduce poverty in the semi-arid northeast, mainly in the Mossoró and Chapada do Apodi region. 

“We must greatly celebrate this fact because it comes from serious, committed, quality work that demonstrates to the agricultural defense bodies of these countries the security that our products are being exported without the presence of larvae of the Anastrepha grandis. It was a great achievement that we achieved with the support of Mapa”.