Seville’s marmalade oranges under threat from deadly yellow dragon disease

Seville’s orange trees, which fill the city with their fragrance in spring, are under threat from citrus greening disease. Photograph: jmeyersforeman/Alamy

Oranges are to Seville what cherry blossom is to Kyoto, but the city is having to take preventive measures to protect its 48,000 orange trees from deadly bacteria that have already devastated citrus crops in Asia, Latin America and the US.

The EU’s Life for Citrus campaign, which includes Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, is developing strategies to stop the spread of huanglongbing (HLB), Mandarin for “citrus greening”, also known as yellow dragon disease. Caused by the bacteria Candidatus liberibacter, it is spread by insects and can completely destroy a citrus tree within five years.