Italy destroys olive trees to fight bug

(ANSA) - Rome, July 7 - Italian civil protection authorities said they had destroyed 45 olive trees infected with the Xylella fastidiosa bacteria in the southern region of Puglia on Tuesday to contain the risk of the bug spreading to the north of the country.
    The Xylella fastidiosa bacteria was first detected in southern Italy in 2013, marking the first outbreak of its kind in the European Union. Once it has infected plants it can dry them out, and it has reportedly caused about a million olive trees in Puglia to die so far.
    Giuseppe Silletti from Italy's civil protection agency thanked farmers around Oria, Puglia, where the cull took place, for cooperating with authorities. He said the operation had added to recent efforts to halt the bacteria's progression and reduced its presence by 90 percent.
    "We continue our efforts to protect the agricultural and olive assets in Puglia," Silletti said.
    Some local farmers reacted with surprise and anger to the decision.
    "They woke me up at six in the morning, I ran over and they were cutting down eight of my olive trees. I am angry, there have been no tests, this is not the way to stop contagion," olive grove owner Franco Curci told ANSA.
    Italy started chopping down affected olive trees in Puglia in April, after the epidemic prompted France to declare an embargo on Puglia products at risk of infection from the deadly pathogen.
    A drastic plan to destroy infected Puglia trees and others seen as being at risk of infection and to create buffer zones to stop the bacteria spreading was drafted after the European Commission demanded "strict precautionary measures".
    But the cull was suspended in May after an appeal was presented by environmental associations and Puglia farmers, who say it is excessive.