Six Years With No Cure: The Continuing Consequences of Xylella

Six years since it first appeared, with no cure in sight, olive pro­duc­ers through­out Europe are learn­ing to live with the dev­as­tat­ing con­se­quences of Xylella fas­tidiosa.

Xylella fas­tidiosa (Xf), a plant bac­te­ria the European Commission labels one of the most dan­ger­ous in the world, was ini­tially spot­ted in the Apulia region in the south of Italy in 2013. Since then, evi­dence of its impact has been dis­cov­ered in Spain, France, Portugal, and parts of the Middle East.

A spokesper­son from the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) said that, while the body of research on Xylella has expanded sig­nif­i­cantly since its dis­cov­ery, so has the com­plex­ity of the dis­ease, which has com­pli­cated the ongo­ing research efforts in pur­suit of a cure.

The lack of a cure has made con­tain­ment more impor­tant than ever, with EFSA sim­u­la­tions indi­cat­ing that grow­ers who dis­cover signs of Xf must take imme­di­ate action.

“[It’s] essen­tial that the emer­gency phy­tosan­i­tary mea­sures (includ­ing the cut­ting of plants and the vec­tor con­trol) are applied timely and effec­tively at the first detec­tion of a new out­break,” the spokesper­son said. ​“If even just one of these ele­ments is not applied in the cor­rect man­ner it becomes very dif­fi­cult to erad­i­cate or con­tain the dis­ease.”

While the EFSA has con­tin­ued to review new stud­ies, includ­ing some that offer promis­ing results for resis­tant and tol­er­ant plant cul­ti­vars, it does not appear a cure will emerge any­time soon, news that does lit­tle to encour­age olive oil pro­duc­ers such as Giovanni Melcarne, whose fam­ily has been grow­ing olives in the Italian province of Lecce for more than 500 years. He esti­mates Xylella has destroyed at least 80 per­cent of his farm.

“The effects of this dis­as­ter on the fam­i­lies and com­pa­nies involved are absolutely dev­as­tat­ing,” Melcarne said. ​“Centuries of his­tory, cul­ture and tra­di­tions are destroyed.”

While the Italian gov­ern­ment has released some leg­is­la­tion man­dat­ing con­tain­ment, for the most part, they have been met with crit­i­cism and dis­trust.

The gov­ern­ment has also been con­demned by farm­ers and, notably, the European Court of Justice for a lack of action, and a fail­ure to stop the bac­terium from advanc­ing. In Lecce, Melcarne says he has seen lit­tle effec­tive gov­ern­men­tal action.

“Policy has been blind and slug­gish, unable to fore­see ade­quate mea­sures to con­tain the spread of the bac­te­ria,” Melcarne said. ​“Olive farm­ers and millers are left alone in this dis­as­ter.”

As the gov­ern­ment wres­tles with how best to stem the cri­sis, grow­ers are des­per­ately try­ing to min­i­mize their eco­nomic losses. Some are work­ing to plant new olive trees, despite the bureau­cratic hur­dles they may face. Others, includ­ing Melcarne, are adapt­ing more imag­i­na­tive solu­tions, such as devel­op­ing new prod­ucts and rent­ing out farm­houses to vis­it­ing tourists.

As Xylella begins to set­tle in as the new real­ity, Melcarne remains cer­tain that change will only come if grow­ers learn to adapt the meth­ods pro­posed by the lat­est research, such as the resis­tant cul­ti­vars described by the EFSA. Without that, he said, there is lit­tle hope for the region.

“A peo­ple that is against sci­ence does not have any future,” Melcarne said.

• European Commission


• National Geographic


• Courthouse News Service