All Majorca’s plant life could be destroyed to stop olive disease
THE Spanish island of Majorca could have its vegetation virtually eliminated under an EU plan to stop a deadly bacteria known as ebola of the olive, farmers in the region have been told.
The bacteria Xylella fastidiosa, which has infected thousands of olive trees in southern Italy, is raging across the Balearic Islands, with carrier species multiplying, according to a recent assessment by the European Union.
In July, it was detected for the first time on the Spanish mainland in almond trees in Alicante, raising fears it could wreak havoc on the world’s largest producer of olive oil.
The EU and the Balearic government are discussing containment plans that could force eradication of all vegetation within a 100-metre radius of infected plants, Spain’s El Confidencial newspaper reported. With infections confirmed at 156 separate points across Majorca, agricultural groups say the measure would mean the almost complete destruction of the island’s plant life.
“If we comply with what Europe is asking us, it would be starting to fell at one end of the island and finishing at the other. I don’t know if eradicating all
‘If we comply with Europe, it would be starting to fell at one end of the island and finishing at the other’
the plant life is the solution, but I am sure that, in Majorca, this is impossible to apply,” Gonzalo Rodríguez, head of the Camp Mallorquí cooperative of 1,000 producers, told the paper.
The Balearic authorities had won a reprieve from the measure after the bacteria was detected on the islands late last year, arguing that it would be a “disaster” for the local environment. The bacteria, which can infect some 300 species, was first discovered in a cherry tree in a Majorcan garden centre in October.
After tests elsewhere on the Balearic Islands came back positive, the local government declared the entire archipelago an outbreak zone, banned the export of live plants and began destroying infected specimens.
But a June assessment by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) came back with alarming news: the response had been too limited, and even with the total application of EU measures, eradication will now be “very difficult” to achieve.
The number of carrier plants was growing, it said, taking around a dozen species including vines, almond and plum trees and lavender. In Alicante, authorities and agricultural groups backed eradication as the only option. But resistance among farmers is growing: Last week protesters blocked machinery brought in to fell trees, El Confidencial reported.