Budwood May Insure Citrus Exports
by Rod Hughes
As Tico Times staff writer Peter Krupa wrote last week, the U.S. donation did not look like much, just boxes of twigs with buds on them. But the gift may prove to be insurance to maintain Costa Rica’s multi-million dollar citrus export industry against the plagues that have severely damaged crops in Florida and Brazil. Known as “budwood,” the twigs, guaranteed disease-free, are grafted to existing citrus stock.
Costa Rican citrus harvests–knock on woodstock–so far has not been crippled by such plagues as citrus canker and the Chinese disease called “greening.” Last year, the country exported $51 million in juice and $275,000 in whole fruit, most of it grown in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. Randolph Fleming, CEO of the citrus producer Del Oro, notes that citrus diseases spread rapidly. The 400 samples of stock, containing 66 varieties of the fruits, are an invaluable.
Del Oro, a British-held company and the second largest producer here, will care for the clean budwood on behalf of the Production Ministry in Del Oro’s $200,000 nursary and could invest as much as $750,000 more, said company spokesmen.Ticofruit is the largest exporter and its research and development manager, Donovan Brown, says that having a “bank” of budwood avoids the risk of importing possibly diseased budwood from abroad.
But another advantage in a so-called germplasm bank is that one of the varieties may actually come to dominate the market. Five years ago, pineapple producers switched to the MD-2 variety that was disciovered in such a germplasm bank, revolutionizing the market. So, the budwood will be nurtured carefully in “screenhouses” where sunlight and breezes can get in–but not disease-carrying insects.