Italien stellt Plan zur Bekämpfung des Olivenbaummörders vor

Aktuelle News

More than eight months after deadly bac­te­ria has threat­ened olive crops in Italy, and olive prices world­wide, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture (MIPAAF) has announced a mon­i­tor­ing plan to bat­tle Xylella fas­tidiosa, the plant-killing microbes that have infected over - acres of olive trees in the region of Puglia.

The plan involves enforc­ing a san­i­tary cor­don in the most recently affected Leece to pre­vent the bac­te­ria from spread­ing north. Cordons require form­ing an enclosed, well-trimmed plot heav­ily treated with pes­ti­cides. Additionally, the Ministry has pro­posed increased mon­i­tor­ing of the bac­te­ria, the felling of infected plants and bet­ter track­ing of poten­tial car­ri­ers of the bac­te­ria.

The MIPAAF will intro­duce a sci­en­tific com­mit­tee of indus­try experts to sup­port the exist­ing National Plant Protection Service in research­ing char­ac­ter­is­tics of infected trees and trans­mis­sion. The min­istry also plans to pro­vide finan­cial assis­tance to affected farm­ers and pro­duc­ers.

The ori­gin of the bac­te­ria remains unknown, but accord­ing to Rolando Manfredini, an expert with an Italian farm­ers’ lobby group, Xylella fastidiosa likely came from imported plants such as ole­an­der. ​"Italy’s motor­ways are often lined with ole­an­ders, which turn the roads into flower-lined avenues, but could also turn them into deadly con­duits for the dis­ease to spread through Italy to other regions noted for their olives, like Tuscany,” Manfredini told the Telegraph.

According to Antonio Guario, a health offi­cial with the regional gov­ern­ment, Italy cur­rently exports - tonnes of olive oil annu­ally, mak­ing it the world’s sec­ond-largest exporter after Spain.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has reported there is ​"Aufgrund des breiten Wirtsspektrums des Erregers und seiner Vektoren gibt es keine Aufzeichnungen über eine erfolgreiche Ausrottung von X. fastidiosa im Freien. “

• Mercacei


• Olive Oil Times


• The Telegraph UK