South Africa $1.9bn citrus exports face new disease threat

The insect-borne bacterial disease causes blotching of leaves and reduces the quality of fruit to the point where it can’t be sold or used for processing. 

South Africa’s $1.9 billion citrus-export industry, the world’s biggest after Spain, faces a new disease threat amid an ongoing dispute with the European Union over fungal infections.

The country said it will start a surveillance program around the southern city of Gqeberha after the African strain of the citrus-greening disease was detected in residential areas there. Gqeberha is the largest city in the Eastern Cape, the second-biggest citrus-growing province in the country.

The program will determine what measures to take, the country’s agriculture department said in a statement on Friday. The insect-borne bacterial disease causes blotching of leaves and reduces the quality of fruit to the point where it can’t be sold or used for processing.

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The disease, if it spreads, could spark further protests from Spain, which has motivated for the EU to implement costly pest-control measures on South African imports that imperil the viability of its exports to the bloc, which totaled $847 million last year, according to the National Agricultural Marketing Council. Those measures pertain to the citrus black spot fungal disease and false codling moth, a pest that damages the fruit.

South Africa has asked the World Trade Organisation to set up panels to adjudicates its disputes with the EU.

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