Economic impact of the avocado (cv. Hass) wilt disease complex in Antioquia, Colombia, crops under different technological management levels

The avocado wilt disease complex is the most important pathology in avocado crops worldwide. Despite its importance, research about its economic losses is limited. In this work, the objective was to determine the economic impact of the wilt disease in three regions located in Antioquia, Colombia, and its relationship with the technological level of farm management. Six nurseries and 20 fruit production lots were tested for economic losses due to the wilt disease, including all crops stages of development. Results showed an average incidence and mortality of 28.2 and 60.8%, respectively, at the nursery level. Economic losses due to the disease were 356, 340 and 325 USD per nursery per production cycle. Cost over-run for the nursery stage was 64.5, 75.4 and 50.9 USD for the northern, eastern and southwestern regions, respectively. In the field crops, an incidence of 33.83 and mortality of 25.06 were observed, economic losses were 2340, 1702 and 2103 USD ha−1, with a cost over-run of 225, 372 and 287.9 USD ha−1 for the same regions, respectively, during a 8-year period. As expected, the highest yields, lowest incidence of the wilt disease and best cost/benefit relationship, were registered for high technological grade of farm management. In this work, the economic impact of the avocado wilt disease during the different stages of crop development were determined as a direct effect of plant deaths and reduction of plant production, in addition to the cost over-run due to replanting and disease management.