When the Olives Are Gone: The Apocalypse Brought by Xylella Fastidiosa

Michele Martini Carissimo, an olive farmer from Salento, said that Xylella fastidiosa started affecting a branch of an olive tree. It then attacks a bigger tree branch, and eventually, it strikes the entire tree leaving it as a clump of dead brown leaves. 

Two years later, the damage had gone from bad to apocalyptic: vast expanses of almost lifeless olive groves in Puglia's Salento region had taken a devastating toll in the region. This also threatens the olive trees that have provided livelihood to farmers for generations and the traditions that come with it. 

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The plant bacterium Xylella fastidiosa

According to Dr. Maria Saponari, a researcher of the Italian National Research Center, Xylella fastidiosa is a plant bacterium that attacks the plants. The bacteria are transmitted from one plant to another by an insect called "Spittlebug" or Philaenus spuinarius. 

During summer, the risk of Xylella fastidiosa infection is higher as spittlebugs move from one plant to another more frequently. 

(Photo: Pixabay)
A short film, Xylella Fastidiosa: The Apocalypse of Salento made by Paola Ghisliera describes how Xylella fastidiosa bacteria has brought devastation to olive farmers and the olive oil industry.

The extensive spread of  Xylella fastidiosa

Adriano Abante, the director of Confragricoltura Brindisi said that the plant-bacteria initially came from a host ornamental plant traced from South America. The plant then entered Rotterdam. It then found its way to Salento, Italy. The plant bacterium spread its way to Gallipoli, where it found an ideal environment where it thrived and rapidly spread to vast areas of olive groves. 

It was in 2013 that the Xylella fastidiosa was officially found in Puglia, Salento. By then, experts said that Xylella has spread to 8,000 hectares. For now, authorities estimate that the bacteria had spread to 775,000 hectares in three provinces. 

Abante said the extensive spread might be because no proper measures were done to contain the disease as early as 2013. Infected olive plants should have been removed, with the plants surrounding it to curb the bacteria's spread. These measures were not done in Salento, he said.

The damages were so extensive that from 3,000 infected olive trees in 2013, damaged olive plants reached 6.6 million in 2017. 

Xylella fastidiosa, according to agronomist Mario Dinunzio had no known cure, no known antidote, and authorities recommended cutting down olive trees: affected by the bacterium or non-affected to curb its lethal spread. It was an order that was heartbreaking for olive farmers who have grown and nurtured their olive trees for generations.

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The importance of olive trees in Puglia

Puglia contributes to 40% of olive oil production in Italy. Olive farmers in Puglia have been cultivating plants for several generations that olive trees have represented them and has become an emblem in their territory. The olive industry has not only brought livelihood from farmers through oil production, but it also contributed much to the tourism industry of Puglia. 

The order to cut down olive trees was a heartbreaking decision for olive farmers. Some olive trees have been in their family for 100 years. They have been growing olive trees for generations that it forms the historical landscape in Puglia. Cutting down large olive trees will completely change its ecosystem.

AS the bacteria-infected olive trees, Salento's oil production reduced to 60-70 percent, causing farmers to lose a substantial part of their income. 

Moreover, several olive oil mills closed. 

Experts said that the disease has spread in Corsica, South of France, Spain, and Portugal, while Liguria, Calabria, and adjacent islands are at high risk of infection. 

Xylella fastidiosa has become a big agricultural disaster for olive oil farmers, leaving the future of Puglia and other olive plantations on the brink of uncertainty. 

Cutting down the olive trees is expected to affect bats, hedgehogs, and foxes, and an array of birds. 

How to save olive trees

Experts and authorities have recommended cutting infected trees and non-infected ones that are near it. New varieties of olives that are resistant to Xylella fastidiosa are now being introduced. But some are doubtful, as the recommended variety, Leccinos do not make much oil.

Marco Scortichini, a plant pathologist and Xylella researcher at Italy's Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy Analysis, published a study that said infected trees were given a regular treatment of zinc, copper, and citric acid recovered to reproductive state. The soil also needs to be more fertile. His study revealed that curing plants does not eliminate the pathogen, but reducing the pathogen in plants is the key.

Xylella fastidiosa, he said, is not impossible to contain, but farmers need to manage the disease sustainably.

There is hope for olive trees in Salento, after all.

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