As background, it is important to note that through the implementation of the project "Strengthening for the control of Huanglongbing and the implementation of integrated pest management in Citrus" implemented by TaiwanICDF and OIRSA in the period 2013-2017, whose stated objective was to contribute to the reduction of rural poverty in Central America through the conservation or expansion of the citrus industry against phytosanitary threats, mainly HLB, the following efforts were channeled: within the "Healthy Plants System" component, 14 healthy plant production greenhouses are established and functioning in the region; 2 Foundation Block Greenhouses or Level 1 (El Salvador and Panama); 7 for citrus bud multiplication or Level 2 in each of the participating countries; 5 commercial greenhouses or Level 3 blocks in Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, with a combined production capacity of around 600,000 healthy citrus plants per year, in addition to technical support for initiatives of 15 traditional nurseries.
Within this regional program, there is also the "Integrated Pest Management" component, where, to date, more than 5,000 producers and technicians have been trained, and 75,000 citrus trees have been removed as potential inoculum sources. In the context of biological control, 336,700 specimens of Tamarixia radiata have been released, and a technological package has been agreed upon with demonstrative activities in 27 demonstration plots, which served as a venue for over 200 Field Days.
For the third component, which corresponds to "Phytosanitary Diagnosis" the seven official laboratories have been strengthened through equipment, reagents, supplies, and materials, in which citrus samples have been processed to confirm or rule out the presence of the bacterium on farms, regions, or countries. There are installed capacities of 8 pathogen detection techniques of economic or quarantine interest, including HLB.
In the fourth and final component, "HLB Surveillance and Prevention" surveillance routes have been established in the member countries, which have served for the timely detection of HLB in new areas or regions, facilitating the official sector's response and maintaining the outbreak's containment.
With the achievements obtained, the honorable CIRSA visualized the need to continue and sustain the axes of the HLB project through the participation of OIRSA, Ministries or Secretariats of Agriculture, the private sector, and international cooperation through the structuring of a "Regional program for integrated citrus management," as well as the creation of a fund for the maintenance of greenhouses and regional and national resources, which remain in effect to date.
