Valencian produce association Ava-Asaja has urged the Spanish government and the European Union to tighten their import controls for citrus shipments from South Africa, claiming that Spanish production is under threat from dangerous plant diseases.
Although it said the volume of citrus imports to Spain had fallen by 56 per cent, the group claimed the threat from foreign pests and diseases had increased.
In fact, according to figures from Spain’s Ministry for the Environment, consignments of citrus found to have problems in Spanish ports was said to have risen to a record level of 68 – one of the highest figures for the last decade.
“If Spain, which is more sensitive to this problem, is finding there are a huge amount of shipments with phytosanitary problems, then it is evident that in the rest of Europe, many more will be arriving with far fewer controls,” the association claimed.
Ava-Asaja president, Cristóbal Aguado, called on the Spanish government to suspend citrus imports from South Africa until it had negotiated a new phytosanitary protocol with the country, which “guaranteed the security of Spanish exports”.
In more concrete terms, the association said that 52 per cent of the shipments quarantined by Spanish ports were found to have been infected with ‘Gignardia citricarpa’, while 37 per cent had been found to have ‘Cryptophlebia leucotreta’.
“In both cases, the diseases detected are extremely dangerous,” Ava-Asaja added.
