According to Julio Reyes Vazquez, the president of the municipal committee of the National Peasant Confederation (CNC), more than 1,200 hectares of citrus are at the mercy of pests, such as the fruit fly, that would affect 2,000 producers in Tuxpan alone, because of the lack of government support in this county.
"The SEDARPA put more emphasis on the livestock's social issues than on the phytosanitary problems of many products in the state, including citrus. As a result there's a phytosanitary problem throughout the state, especially for citrus. This is going to crush us and we'll be left fiddling our thumbs and wondering what we could do," he said.
Apart from the Federal Government, he said, they had also been affected because the Local Plant Health Board, which is responsible for certifying products as free of pests, virtually didn't exist and was only a letterhead.
"The Local Board used to carry out preventive programs to make sure that the Mexican fruit fly and other pests, such as the yellow dragon, didn't affect crops. This benefited everybody because producers achieved quality fruit, there was a good production, and the fruit could be sent everywhere."
However, he reiterated, the Local Plant Health Board has not met, or given producers protein, or checked the pest traps, among other actions they used to perform, for the past three years.
Currently, Reyes Vazquez said, Tuxpan only moves its citrus production to Mexico City and to the livestock sector were it is used as feed for cows. Otherwise, it can't be marketed.
Finally, he acknowledged that the orange from Tuxpan was affected by the fruit fly, as they have been unable to eradicate it. "The fruit looks nice outside, but inside it has been affected," he said.
