The high humidity and the continuous rains since the end of February in Tumbes and Piura, in the north of the country, have increased the presence of Mildiu on table grape crops in this area, stated Jose Luis Juarez, a phytosanitary advisor on this product.

“The whole control machine is focused on attacking the fungi. Consequently, we expect the mealybug is not going to be controlled efficiently and it will cause damage later on,” he said. Normally, producers would carry out the prevention against mealybugs program at present, during the formation stage, he indicates.

After this stage, he said, producers can't make many more applications because of residue issues. “If producers don't control this pest in the formation stage adequately, the mealybugs will infest the clusters in the production stage, decreasing productivity,” he warned.

Producers fear the presence of anthracnose in mango
According to Cesar Morocho, the president of the Peruvian Association of Mango Exporters (APEM), the rains increased when Piura - which concentrates 75% of the country's mango production - had finished its exports. Thus, the rains affected the production area of Casma (Ancash).

However, he said, the rainfall will have an impact on the next campaign. On the one hand, it could cause a two or three-week delay in the harvests due to the alteration of the natural process of the plant. On the other hand, the large volume of rainfall has led to the development of a large number of spores of different fungi and the sector fears the crops could be affected by the anthracnose fungus.

“The healthy fruit is placed in a container that has a temperature of -10 degrees; suitable conditions for this fungus to appear. So producers can pack and export clean mangoes, but when they reach their destination they are full of black spots on the skin,” he said.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com