Citriculture Sector Chamber debates actions to prevent greening in RS

Representatives of the Citrus Sector Chamber of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Sustainable Production and Irrigation (Seapi) met this Thursday (04/05) to discuss, among other issues, actions to prevent greening, or Huanglongbing (HLB), one of the most serious and destructive diseases affecting citrus crops. The coordinator of the Sectoral and Thematic Chambers and deputy director general of the Secretariat, Clair Kuhn, welcomed the participants of the meeting, which took place in a hybrid format.

The head of Seapi's Plant Health Defense Division, agronomist Rita de Cássia Antochevis, spoke about the “Strategies for Prevention and Control of Huanglongbing (HLB)/Greening Disease”. According to her, Seapi has been carrying out actions to prevent the entry of the disease. “We are isolated here in Rio Grande do Sul, as a state without HLB occurrence. In 2012 it was detected in Argentina, in December last year in Uruguay and Santa Catarina,” she said.

According to Rita, from April 2022 to April 2023, in the 34 thousand hectares of citrus planted in Rio Grande do Sul (21 thousand oranges and 13 thousand bergamot), the Secretariat carried out field actions in 1.800 hectares of 213 properties rural areas in different regions, for HLB monitoring, around 5% of the citrus area in the State. “We collected samples, 15 of which were negative for the disease.”

Furthermore, the agronomist said that the teams made and are making phytosanitary barriers at the Secretariat's six checkpoints. “At the Torres station, cargo inspection is 24 hours a day, as it is the busiest in the State. In others there are flying teams”, explained Rita.

According to her, during this period of one year, 14 health education campaigns were carried out together with Emater/RS-Ascar in different regions of Rio Grande do Sul, also transmitted online. “One of them reached more than a thousand people. This publicity is very important, because we cannot be on all the properties that grow citrus, and it is essential that farmers can recognize the symptoms of the disease and turn to Seapi, so that teams can go there to collect a sample and take quick action. ”, explained Rita.

The next steps, according to her, are the training of Emater technicians in May in São Sebastião do Caí and Encantado; collections of Diaphorina (the insect vector of bacteria that cause grenning); and inspection of nurseries and citrus seedling traders.