After 10 years can't talk more about emergency, But say ordinary phenomenon. Dramatically ordinary. A phenomenon marching north al pace of 10 kilometers a year, infecting olive groves upon olive groves, and really risking undermining the foundations of olive growing in the regione which it alone holds more than 50% of national production.
And in the face of what the most authoritative insiders now indicate as the biggest failure of the Puglia Region - the fight against Xylella – the request for an extraordinary commissioner and a national structure that supports it is raised ever louder. Starting from trade associations who greeted with great satisfaction the commitment made in this regard by Undersecretary Giacomo La Pietra both in the meeting in Bitonto with the Co., both in the one in Brindisi with Confagricoltura
And the distance between one President of the Region, Michele Emiliano, which continues to claim leadership of the interventions (“the commissioner of the Region for the management of Xylella – he said recently – it would have no technical basis, because both from the point of view of the disbursement of funds for replanting and from the point of view of the immediate cutting of the plants after monitoring, everything happens with regularity and punctuality") to the regional councilor Donato Pentassuglia that, while avoiding official statements, has a vision markedly closer to the feeling of trade associations.
And among these, today the Cia-Italian Farmers, which reiterates the request for a national structure dedicated to the Xylella emergency with full powers to an extraordinary commissioner, more resources and streamlined procedures. A request that arises from “bureaucratic delays in the Puglia Region, too slow in implementing rapid and effective strategies” with delays that “concern both the eradication of infected plants and the provision of refreshments to olive growers”.
Secondo Hello, the Puglia Region began to deal with the Xylella phenomenon only two years ago (not surprisingly with the arrival of Pentassuglia to the agriculture councilorship) and "the infected area - writes the association - in the years of immobility of political decision makers, has gradually enlarged”: from Lecce reached the provinces of Toast e Taranto, to then also enter the Bari area. The affected area extends, by now, on almost 750 thousand hectares and is compromised the 50% of Apulian olive growing.
"Some regional institutional exponents, in the years following the discovery of the first outbreaks, preferred to give credit to pseudo-environmentalists with theories that had nothing to do with science - declared the national president of the CIA, Cristiano Fini (in the picture) -. On the subject of responsibility, we trust in the newly established parliamentary inquiry commission on Xylella which we hope will be able to bring to light everything that has happened".
According to Cia, the Plan for the Agricultural Regeneration of Puglia, dedicated to infected areas, was conceived as an extraordinary financing instrument, but makes use of ordinary procedures that are not able to manage the emergency. At the moment, eradications are delayed by at least two years (plants declared infected in 2021 were recently uprooted), while those who have eradicated themselves are still waiting for regional contributions. As regards the income support for agricultural enterprises envisaged by the Plan, only the funds relating to 2018 were partially disbursed, while there are also unacceptable delays for the resources destined for replanting in the infected areas. CIA therefore deems it essential to change the pace of the plan to combat Xylella with the appointment of a commissioner with special powers and adequate human and financial resources. "For our part, we will continue to provide all the collaboration to the European, governmental and regional institutions and to the scientific community as we have been doing continuously since the autumn of 2013, to save what remains of Apulian olive growing and of the entire national olive growing", concludes Fini.
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