Spain and Italy hit by devastating ‘olive ebola’ outbreak
CAROLINE MORTIMER
IndependentUK
Monday 25 May 2015
Spanish olive groves are at risk of being wiped out by a strain of “olive ebola” which has ravaged the crop in Italy.
The bacteria Xylella fastidiosa, believed to have originally come from the United States, has torn through southern Italy since it first appeared in late 2013.
Dubbed “olive ebola” by a Blanca Landa, a researcher at the Institute of Sustainable Agriculture, is threatening to wipe out decimate entire groves across southern Spain.
Landa told Spanish daily newspaper ABC: “The Italian outbreak is very virulent. The bacteria’s virulence in olive trees is unprecedented.
“It is unforgiving. The Italian farmers we met told us they had taken better care of their olive groves than their children and now they are irrevocably damaged. In barely a year it can wipe out an entire plantation.”
It is causing serious concern for Spanish officials as Spain is the biggest olive oil producer in the European Union.
There is no cure for the disease, which causes “olive quick decline syndrome”, and all affected trees must be felled.
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