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Oranges in danger

People on citrus plantation

FiBL project leader Salvador Garibay (2nd from right) talking to Mexican orange producers. (Photo: FiBL, Salvador Garibay)

Citrus fruit producers globally are under threat from citrus greening. This bacterial disease (also known as HLB) is killing the trees on a massive scale. So far neither clear-felling nor pesticides have succeeded in stopping the disease. However, new cultivation methods can halt the spread, as a FiBL project in Mexico shows.

A glass of cold orange juice for breakfast – this luxury is at risk. Owing to citrus greening, exports of organic orange juice from Cuba have fallen within a few years from around 1000 tonnes to approximately 25 tonnes today - a collapse of more than 95 per cent. When, in 2011, HLB was also sighted in Yucatan, in southern Mexico, the Coop supermarket chain sprang into action and set up a Salvador Garibay

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