The Unió de Llauradors (Growers' Association) has called for a meeting to take place on Tuesday 19 July in the municipality of Alginet, next to the City Hall and the town's agricultural cooperative, in order to inform kaki growers about the best strategies that need to be adopted to tackle the virulent whitefly attacks that the fruit's plantations are suffering in many areas of the county of La Ribera. The Unió noted that, given the scale of the problem, there is a need for coordinated action between growers and technical experts, who have to report the right time to carry out the treatments in order to control the whitefly population and minimise the damage caused to the kakis. The fact is that the current campaign is under threat by a pest which had been either practically non-existent so far or had gone unnoticed by the crop's producers. The conversion of citrus to kakis has entailed that some pests that up to now have only affected citrus have found a new place to multiply. Some worth noting are the Planococcus citri or the Cryptoblabes gnidiella, but especially whiteflies (Dialeurodes citri, Paraleyrodes minei and Aleurothrixus floccosus). In large areas of the region of La Ribera Alta, a large population of Dialeurodes citri has been detected. The damage caused by the fly is direct, as by sucking the sap, they cause a weakening of the tree, but also indirect, as it can cause damage to both leaves and fruit which can lead to serious quality and marketing problems. Source - www.freshplaza.com