The Intergovernmental Group on Citrus Fruit of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with support of Chinese Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GDAAS), recently organized the Intersessional Meeting on Citrus Greening Disease (Huanglongbing) on 2-4 December 2015 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, Guangzhou City.
The meeting gathered about 30 experts and delegates from citrus producing and consuming countries around the world. The International Tropical Fruits Network (TFNet), lead by Chief Executive Officer Dr. Desa Hassim, attended this meeting together representatives from TFNet member countries: Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand. During this meeting, Dr. Desa also presented his paper “An Analysis of Citrus Market Developments and Prospects for Selected South East Asian Countries”.
The other presentations delivered by experts from FAO, China, Florida USA, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand were:
- Emerging Issues and Market Developments in Citrus by Kaison Chang, FAO
- World Citrus Market Projections by 2023 by Shangnan Shui, FAO
- Huanglongbing in China: Current Management and Challenges by Dr. Yi Ganjun, GDAAS, China
- Racing with Huanglongbing (HLB) by using very large nursery trees and growth promoting practices, GuangYan Zhong, Fruit Tree Research Institute, GDAAS, China
- Florida Citrus Production and Consumer Trends by Dr. Stephen Futch, University of Florida, USA
- Practices and Efforts to Enhance Grower Food Security via Promotion of Citrus Development in Vietnam, by Nguyen Quoc Hung, Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute, Vietnam
- Current Status of Malaysian Citrus Industry, by Norhazlan bin Mohd Nor, Department of Agriculture, Malaysia
- Practices and Efforts to Enhance Growers Food Security in the Philippines, Danilo T. Dannug, Bureau of Plant Industry, Philippines
- Practices and Efforts to Enhance Growers Food Security in Thailand, Umpika Poonnachit, Department of Agriculture, Thailand
After the presentations, the session wrapped with the development of an FAO-led international action plan on how to alleviate the problems affecting the citrus industry like citrus greening and market development strategies.
After the session, the TFNet delegates visited a few project areas managed by the Institute of Fruits Tree Research, GDAAS near Guangzhou City. Part of the itinerary were the tissue culture lab, production factory, citrus nursery, and citrus demonstration plot.
