Spanish cooperatives and agricultural organizations producing olive urge the European Union to take drastic and urgent measures to prevent a dangerous bacterium, Xylella fastidious transmitted by insects, introduces into Spain. Since it was detected in the region of Puglia, in southern Italy, this bacterium has killed nearly one million olive trees, and has been extended to Brindisi, breaking the safety limit established in this country. It also poses a risk to citrus fruits, almond trees or vineyards. In addition it is estimated that there are 312 plants, many of them ornamental, which can host this deadly bacterium.

The bacterium has already jumped to France and has been detected in olive trees for gardening sold in supermarkets in Corsica, where the concern of oil producers grows, and ornamental plant material in Paris, coming from Costa Rica, via Holland.

Spanish farmers asked the EU to establish a cordon sanitaire to prevent its expansion, similar to those established in the case of cattle infection. Also, it is important to analyze why and what protocols failed in Italy, and made possible the spreading of the bacterium. They urge the government to close the borders to plant material from the affected areas.

This bacterium is also present in North America, where it devastated the vineyards of the southern United States in the 1990s, Central America, South America, Japan, Turkey and Kosovo.

Source: www. agroinformación.com