The 12th Citrus Research Symposium has highlighted internationally recognised research that is helping secure southern Africa’s citrus industry against threats of disease and pests while making top technical knowledge and services available to growers. This is Part 1 of a two-part series.
In his weekly newsletter, Citrus Growers Association CEO Justin Chadwick highlighted some of the research covered at the symposium, which was held in the Drakensberg last week.
Chadwick said renewed support for the region’s “exceptional plant health vigilance” had been offered at the symposium, which was attended by about 850 delegates representing citrus growers, packhouses, exporters, international research partners, nurseries and supportive industries such as packaging, logistics and agrichemicals.
“Export citrus contributes around R30 billion annually to the South African economy and provides employment to 140 000 people on farm level. Without top-level research on a wide range of technical issues, the industry would falter, and export markets would close,” he said.
Currently, the South African government is involved in two historic trade disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding the European Union’s citrus import regulations. The cases concern False Codling Moth (FCM) and Citrus Black Spot (CBS), both having been the subject of extensive research to enable effective control.
“At the symposium, new research results on FCM were presented by researchers, including a novel FCM detection technique using the analysis of scent, as well as the fine-tuning of postharvest treatments of fruit to eliminate the presence of any surviving FCM larvae,” Chadwick said.
“Highlights on CBS research included a new matrix for CBS risk assessment of individual orchards that can assist growers, while another study identified naturally antifungal compounds in citrus rinds which could become part of an environmentally sustainable remedy for CBS.”
Source: FLWN