May I say that, the growing of citrus fruits is pertinent for obtaining one of the most luscious fruits in the world. Citrus, a plant, which originated from south East Asia, has characteristic edible juicy fruit and fragrant flowers. In essence, even when the conditions for growth of the plant is are not ideal, there may be still a citrus for everyone. In the United States, citrus is produced in California, Texas, Arizona and Florida. Of the aforementioned states, Florida is the biggest producer of citrus fruits in America accounting up to 70% of the total U.S production (Halbert, Susan & Manjunath, 2004). While the citrus plant is an inevitable source of fruits for home and industrial use, a dangerous disease, citrus greening is here with us. Noticing the threat that citrus greening disease pose to the citrus production sector, scientists recommend a genetically modified citrus fruit as an option to overcome the disease. The debate on growing of genetically modified citrus plant is becoming a popular, controversial debate among the educated and the illiterate as well (FDA, 2014). Without shifting the attention from the subject of controversy, it is pertinent to understand how citrus is grown before someone can accept or oppose the scientific recommendations sparking debate in the public domain.
Naturally, to ensure the best possible crop, growers want to ensure that all the trees to be planted are of the same quality. To achieve this, each new tree for planting is propagated by budding or grafting. For the soil conditions, all that a grower needs to have is a well-drained soil, sandy or loamy (Alva, 1992). For sandy, soils, regular watering is essential the same way production will not be possible without fertilization. Before one can have a citrus fruit on the hand, a series of management practices such as pruning, frost control, weeding, disease control must be effected. Some of the challenges such as citrus greening are not easy to manage.
In fact, citrus greening is one of the dangerous citrus diseases in the world. The disease was first confirmed in 2005 in Florida. In essence, greening is a bacterial disease, which can kill trees, reduce production and economic value of the fruit because it attacks the vascular system of the citrus trees. Vectored by the Asian citrus psychalid, the disease has no cure once it infects a tree. The greening disease is also spread through infected materials or fruits from other areas where the disease is common. According to USDA, in the year 2013, the greening disease cost Florida’s economy 8000 jobs and $4.5 billion (NGN, 2014).
Management options available for greening include removal of symptomatic trees and planting of disease-free materials. In addition, this disease can be avoided through use of cultural approaches such as the use of resistant varieties. Similarly, control of the disease is possible by reduction of psyllid populations through chemical or biological control.
While there is freedom of expression, it is important to limit facts to science and opinion to politics. Fears that are expressed on the effects of genetic foods on human health are unfounded to the best level of scientific proof. Essentially, there is no proven fact that genetically modified foods cause adverse effects to human health. Undoubtedly, the fears are unfounded and best perpetuated by those who want to create adversity out the needed diversity.
Of course, the debate on transgenic crops includes environmental concerns. Some people express reservations on genetic modification of crops because there fears of hazardous effects to the environment. Fears that genetically modified crops will transfer the genes to other unintended plants or lead to increased resistance of pests to pesticides are common (FDA, 2014). However, there is no logical evidence to substantiate the aforementioned claims. All may be as well missing the point.
Economically, concerns about transgenic crops border on their affordability, thus availability to the poor. Owing to the fact that production of transgenic crops is an expensive process, it is feared that prices will close out the poor from accessing them. Worse still, patenting of transgenic crops varieties allows for increasing prices. As such, there are concerns that the use of transgenic crops will increase the gap between the poor and the rich.
In the United States, transgenic crops are common, and most people have no reservations with their safety. However, the story is different in other countries. For example, in most of the African countries, transgenic crops are banned. Of course, politics plays a greater role in such countries than science does. Some of the bans are termed temporary because they are subject to change after nothing negative becomes evident in countries where the transgenic crops are reliable foods.
According to Entine (2014), the use of genetically modified citrus plants is safe for everybody except the psyllid bacteria. Such plants should not cause any panic. Ultimately, there is no reason people should die of hunger as others lose jobs due to industrial losses while transgenic crops can help them obtain food and secure their jobs. Thus, it is time to play politics in the political arena and let science dominate the production field.
References
Alva, A. K. (2011). Micronutrients status of Florida soils under citrus production. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. doi:10.1080/00103629209368752
Byrne, P., Ward, S., Harrington, J, Fuller, L. 2004. What are transgenic plants? http://cls.casa.colostate.edu/TransgenicCrops/what.html
Entine, Jon. 2014. The Debate About GMO Safety Is Over, Thanks To A NewTrillion-Meal Study.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2014/09/17/the-debate-about-gmo-safety-is-over-thanks-to-a-new-trillion-meal-study
FDA. 2014. Questions & Answers on Food from Genetically Engineered Plants.
http://www.fda.gov/food/foodscienceresearch/biotechnology/ucm346030.htm.
Halbert, S. E., & Manjunath, K. L. (2010). ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLIDS (STERNORRHYNCHA: PSYLLIDAE) AND GREENING DISEASE OF CITRUS: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF RISK IN FLORIDA. Florida Entomologist. doi:10.1653/0015-4040(2004)087[0330:ACPSPA]2.0.CO;2
National Geographic News. 2014. Can Genetic Engineering Save the Florida Orange?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140914-florida-orange-citrus-greening-gmo-environment-science
