Pests and diseases in the Brazil’s citrus belt

Abstract

This is undoubtedly a major threat to the Brazilian citrus industry. During the last decade, four diseases were responsible for the eradication of 39 million citrus trees in the citrus belt of Sao Paulo and Triangulo Mineiro. As a consequence, the average annual mortality rate, which previously hovered around 4.5% per year, jumped to 7.3 %. Adopting an average yield of two boxes of oranges per tree, it is estimated that citrus canker, CVC, sudden death, and citrus greening accounted for an annual reduction of around 78 million boxes, which - when compared with 317 million boxes harvested in 2009/10 - represents a decrease in harvest of roughly 20% (Table cxm16).