With a focus on reinforcing the fight against greening in the Northern region of Paraná, the State Government has just signed a new partnership with the Integrated Cooperativa Agroindustrial, which has invested in new orchards in its area of operation. A meeting between the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Supply, Natalino Avance de Souza, and the president of the cooperative, Jorge Hashimoto, held this week, strengthened the commitment.
“This is a disease that can be controlled with a partnership between public authorities, entities representing the sector, producers and industrialists”, said Souza. “The North of the State has room to grow in citrus farming, our desire is to boost this, but we need to join forces in the fight against greening and Integrada is a great partner”, he added.
The secretary reinforced the need for municipalities to also join the effort to control the disease due to the economic and social importance of culture in the State, as it generates many jobs throughout the production chain. “We need to understand that if we don’t fight this disease correctly, everyone loses,” he said.
The president of the cooperative endorsed the partnership, which can help members defend their crops. Integrada has an orange juice industry and is about to start planting oranges on another 550 hectares in the Cornélio Procópio region. “We were very pleased with this meeting and we are the biggest interested parties, as we have an industry and more than 100 producers with orchards suffering from greening,” he said. “We have to do something very strong. We will fight this battle to win”, he added.
There is still no known cure for greening. Preventative work is carried out with correct spraying, both in terms of management and in choosing the most effective product.
“Our focus is on awareness, inspection and reinforcement of work in the field, as action needs to be collective, as the insect can travel through several properties”, said the head of the Department of Plant Health at the Agricultural Defense Agency of Paraná (Adapar ), Renato Rezende Blood Young.
According to him, the work that has been done in the Northwest of the State, also aimed at combating greening, is being successful due to the union articulated by the State with the private sector and some municipal administrations.
The cutting down of infected trees in urban environments, in areas surrounding commercial orchards and within them, one of the strategies to preserve production, has the primary support of the productive and industrial sector. “It’s a friendly and calm job most of the time”, he emphasized.
In Brazil, the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) is the main causal agent. The disease affects plants of practically all citrus species, in addition to myrtle, widely used as an ornamental plant, and is transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid diaphorina citri.
For more than a year, Adapar has been carrying out control work, mainly in the Northwest and North, regions that concentrate a large part of citrus production and where the majority of the approximately 160 municipalities in Paraná where the disease has already been detected are located.
To help with control, Paraná is under a phytosanitary emergency decree for the disease. The decree allows for greater mobility and faster and more effective action, including the immediate elimination of any plant that has the symptom, including myrtle, an ornamental species on which the psyllid also feeds. There is also a need to efficiently control the insect vector that, when feeding on the sick plant and moving to a healthy one, transmits the bacteria.
Another recommendation is to use seedlings purchased from authorized suppliers and never from street vendors. Inspection authorities have taken strong action to ban this type of illegal trade.
Control of the psyllid can also be done through the biological system, with Tamarixia radiata, a wasp developed by the Institute of Rural Development of Paraná - Iapar-Emater (IDR-Paraná). Since 2016, thousands have been launched in the State in areas marginal to commercial properties.
In the countryside, the Tamarixia look for the nests of the diaphorina citri to reproduce. They lay their eggs under the nymphs (young form), which will serve as food for the larvae. Each wasp can eliminate up to 500 psyllids. This promotes a reduction in the number of vectors and the incidence of the disease. The use of this biological component, which is a complementary alternative to combat greening, also implies less insecticide application.
HLB causes premature fruit drop, which results in reduced production and can lead to early death. Furthermore, the fruits become smaller, deformed, and may have aborted seeds, reduced sugars and high acidity, which depreciates their flavor, reducing quality and commercial value, both for fresh consumption and for industrial processing.
The main symptoms of the disease are leaves with a pale yellow color, with areas of green color, forming irregular spots (mottled).
According to agronomist Paulo Andrade, from the Department of Rural Economy (Deral), at Seab, citrus growing is the most representative branch in fruit growing in Paraná. Preliminary data on the Gross Production Value (VBP) for 2023 indicate that the main citrus fruits – oranges, tangerines and lemons – were cultivated on 29,3 thousand hectares in the State. Orange is the highlight, with 20,8 thousand hectares, followed by tangerine (7,1 thousand hectares) and lemon (1,3 thousand hectares).
Citrus had a production of 860,6 thousand tons in 2023 – 731,5 thousand of oranges, 94,3 thousand of tangerines and 34,6 thousand tons of lemons. In terms of monetary income, oranges were responsible for R$751,8 million, tangerines had a VBP of R$177,2 million, while lemons were valued at R$55,8 million.
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