Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Project aims at citrus plants free of diseases

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MUSCAT: The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries represented by the Directorate-General of Agricultural and Animal Researches has carried out a project for the production of disease free citrus plants. The project was funded by the Agriculture and Fisheries Fund to produce mother trees that are free of diseases. The project comes in an attempt to maintain the citrus types, as well as other feasible types of citrus planted in the Sultanate.


Dr Abdullah bin Dawood al Zadjali, a plant pathology researcher and leading expert on Witches’ Broom Disease of Lime (WBDL), said that the project is part of the efforts by the ministry to revive the plantation of Omani lime and some feasible citrus after the decline in the number of lime trees in the Sultanate due to fatal diseases, especially Broom WBDL. Since the 1970s Oman has lost more than one million lime trees to the disease, which has no known cure.


He added that the project is part of the efforts made to increase the Sultanate’s production of lime and other citrus and enhance the exports of Omani lemon and lemon based industries.


The project benefits from the studies made and the consultations with FAO. The team in charge of the project also reviewed the experiences of other advanced countries in citrus export, such as the US, Brazil, Spain, Italy, India and other countries that face the same or similar problem.


For generations many Omani farmers depended on limes as a major part of their livelihoods. The export of limes was the third largest part of the national income after oil and dates. — ONA


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