The screaming sound of chainsaws rang out from an olive grove in Italy’s southern Puglia region on Monday (October 12) as local authorities began chopping down and burning trees infected with “olive-tree leprosy.”
The olive tree is one of Italy’s national trees and evokes the very image of the country, but now over one million trees are believed to be infected by the disease.
Local farmers are up in arms that the olive groves are being destroyed only weeks before the harvest begins.
Italy has been fighting a loosing battle for several years against the bacterial disease known as the Xylella fastidiosa pathogen and a fruit-fly blight, that is destroying the production of olive oil.
The bacteria can dry out the trees and scorch their leaves, reducing the harvest.
Local producers in the village of Trepuzzi desperately tried to stop their trees, many of which had been planted by their parents and grandparents, from being destroyed, saying it was not clear exactly which trees had been infected.
“This tree can not be chopped down. This tree belongs to everyone. You can’t tear it down. You can send whoever you want but I will not move from this tree,” farmer Stefano Trevisi shouted at the driver of a digger approaching a tree behind him.
Opinion is divided even among the locals over how to solve the situation.
“I agree, the sick trees should be chopped down but the healthy ones should be left alone,” said farmer Cosimo Ciccarese.
Olive grove owner Giovanni Salia, meanwhile, said he believed chopping the trees down was not the right solution.
“I think chopping the trees down is not the answer, I think the trees should be healed. Chopping down a tree is the same as chopping down a human being. It’s a joke. I don’t understand the real intention behind this. The people behind this are abusing their powers. We live off the land and off the olives. Who will pay for the loss of these trees? These trees were planted by our parents,” he said.
According to farmers’ association Coldiretti Italian oil production is usually worth around 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) a year.
But oil production has dropped by more than 35 percent and driven prices up by about 30 percent from the 2013 level.
Producers and merchants are waiting to gauge the effect of higher prices on demand.
Italian shoppers traditionally favor high-quality, locally produced food, but consumer spending has dwindled in line with a shrinking economy in the last three years. (Reuters)