Citrus Official Says Industry is Rebounding Gradually

The citrus industry has endured one of its most challenging periods since it was established over a hundred years ago. One agriculture official shared his thoughts with News Five that while the industry may not return to its glory days when it was one of Belize’s highest revenue earners, it is not going to die. Hugh O’Brien, who is the Program Officer for Citrus Diversification for the Ministry of Agriculture says that coupled with other problems in the past, one major challenge at the end of the last decade was citrus greening. But slowly, citrus is starting to perform better now than recent years.

 

 

Hugh O’Brien, Program Officer, Citrus Diversification, Min. of Agric.

“We’re going through a phase where Belize was hit hard by citrus greening back in 2009 and 2010 somewhere around there, and citrus greening had its impact slowly and our industry really started going downhill around 2013 or so. And production has been going down ever since. Last year was our worst year of production ever in a long, time, probably in about 50 or so years. Last year we did at the factory just over 300,000 boxes of oranges and grapefruit represents.”

 

Marion Ali

“How much of the best days?”

 

Hugh O’Brien

“Oh the best years we were at eight million boxes, so that’s about one third of a million boxes, so it’s one-twentieth of our previous production. Now suffice me to say, though that despite the fact that CPBL received 300,000 plus boxes, 323 if I remember exactly, or 330, both grapefruit and oranges, a new plant, Silk Grass Plant, began operation and they themselves received 40,000 boxes. So that’s the 330 plus 40 is 370. And then on the local market, we easily consume about 30 or 40, 000 boxes, so it takes us to about 400 and then Guatemala in particular, the trucks are passing because they don’t have any oranges. So all the orange juice that you drink in Melchor and Flores, at all of these resorts, is all coming from Belize’s oranges.”