Lethal olive tree disease across Europe is costing billions

The economic cost of the deadly pathogens affecting olive trees in Europe has been estimated to over €20 billion.

The team of researchers made projections for Italy, Spain and Greece, which between them account for 95 per centof European olive oil production.

Thestudy has been publishedin the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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According to the study,it can cause damages worth€17 billion alone in Spain in the next 50 years.

(The impact of infection with Xylella - the trees on the right have not yet been exposed to the bacterium)

A similar scenario in Italy would amount to over five billion, while in Greece, the losses would be under two billion.

Also known as Xylella fastidiosapathogen istransmittedby sap-sucking insects such as spittlebugs.

The bacterium which has killed swathes of trees in Italy, now poses a potential threat to olive plantations in Spain and Greece.

Researchers haveanalysedthe future adverseimpacts of the disease which canincrease the costs of olive oil for consumers.

Xylella is considered to be one of the most dangerous pathogens for plants anywhere in the world.

It can infect cherry, almond and plum trees as well as olives andhas beenassociated with olives after a strain was discovered in trees in Puglia in Italy in 2013.

At present there is no cure for the infection whichlimits the tree's ability to move water and nutrients and over time it withers and dies.

Other thenItaly, the Xylella bacterium has now been found in Spain, France and Portugal.