The Huanglongbing disease (HLB) of bacterial origin affects the different types of citrus fruits, such as lemon, orange, grapefruit, and tangerines. After affecting the leaves and fruits, the sick tree begins to lose its vitality and then dies. The HLB disease has affected citrus fruits from all over the world, spreading at a high speed from China, where it was discovered. The most effective method to eradicate it so far is to uproot the affected trees and eliminate them to prevent the disease from spreading. In 2015, the disease was discovered for the first time in Colombia in several citrus crops in La Guajira. Due to its rapid spread and the slow action of the competent authorities, the crops were affected in such a way that now, four years later, there is no citrus production in this department. The most affected region in Colombia is the Caribbean Coast, where five departments have already declared a phytosanitary emergency (La Guajira, Magdalena, Atlantico, Bolivar, and Cesar). The region could have prepared for the arrival of this bacterium, but when the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) proposed in 2013 Latin American countries, including Colombia, implemented a regional strategy for the management of the HLB in the region to contribute to the sustainability of the citriculture, the National Government only implemented the strategy in the country, a serious mistake that is now being paid by the agricultural sector. Since then, Mexico has invested in the fight and timely detection of this disease, with successful results. The Ministry of Agriculture and the ICA failed Colombia's citrus industry by not applying in a timely manner the strategies suggested by the FAO for the containment of Huanglongbing of citrus fruits, and they continue to fail by not having an effective prevention, eradication, and surveillance strategy, via the creation of regional control areas, ARCO, that allow the monitoring of the insect vector of the HLB, to prevent it form spreading. The citrus sector has asked the National Government to officially underline the urgency of this emergency so that the citrus crops that still haven't been affected are protected and the country can continue exporting its citrus to other markets, such as the US. Source - https://www.freshplaza.com/