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Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Following the discovery of a citrus greening disease, Jamaican Citrus growers are bracing for massive losses for up to US$46.6 million.
The Ministry of Agriculture has been forced to implement drastic measures to prevent the further spread of the deadly disease. Citrus Greening disease has no known cure, and efforts to contain it require significant resources.
Citrus farmers have been were made aware that they will not be able to access plants from nurseries as they have all been ordered closed. Chairman of the Jamaica Citrus Growers Association (JCGA), John Thompson, said an extraordinary meeting of the board of directors of the JCGA would be held later this week to discuss the order by the Ministry of Agriculture to close all the nurseries on the island.
Meanwhile, the Jamaica Citrus Protection Agency (JCPA) says the closure of the nurseries is the best option open to the authorities to deal with the disease.
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