The Puglia region in southern Italy, which produces nearly 50% of the country’s olive oil, is particularly affected.
Drought, lack of winter, heatwaves… Olives are facing the consequences of climate change. The Puglia region in southern Italy, which produces nearly 50% of the country’s olive oil, is particularly impacted.
Pietro Leone cultivates about 100 hectares of olive trees in the province of Foggia. This year, the low rainfall has seriously impacted his production and the harvest next November is expected to be less good than last year.
“This year the production is low, it is much lower than last year, because we had the water stress that we have had for a few years and then we had two horrible days during flowering in which several varieties did not tie. This year we have 50% to 80% less production” says Pietro Leone.
The Capaccio dam is the closest to the city of Foggia and supplies water to the entire province for industry, irrigation and consumption. It is fed by a stream that carries rainwater into the reservoir.
Today, this dam is practically empty and contains only 2.5 million cubic meters of water compared to the usual 17 million cubic meters. The little that remains comes from last winter. This year, the dam has not filled. The other 3 reservoirs in the province of Foggia are only 50% full.
“Instead of 300 million cubic meters available in the 4 reservoirs, we had half of that, only 150 million cubic meters. So we did half of an irrigation season in the irrigation district and then we had to stop to maintain 9 months of autonomy in drinking water” explains Giuseppe De Filippo, who works for the National Association of Sanitation of Puglia.
The low water level of this artificial reservoir may be an advantage for the surrounding small livestock farms, but it is very dangerous for olive trees. Although these plants need less water than other crops, temperatures above 40 degrees for 50 consecutive days threaten olive production and, therefore, its precious oil.
