The act of the Region
Starting next November 11th withdrawal in derogation of cancellations along the coast of the olive grove plain between Bari and Brindisi and along the foothills of the Gargano province of Foggia, with climate changes which have caused the proliferation of birds which have become resident in Puglia and which, in addition to eating the olives, cover the vegetables in the field with excrement and they affect the pitches, causing significant damage to production. The news was given by Coldiretti Puglia, in relation to the managerial act of the Agriculture Department of the Puglia Region which authorizes the derogation of withdrawals of transfers in the areas most affected by the phenomenon from 11 November 2023 to 21 January 2024, with quantitative limits maximum withdrawal of 10.000 units. There are thousands of starlings in the countryside that each eat up to 20 grams of olives per day in the olive groves of Bari and Brindisi and on the Gargano in the epicenter between San Giovanni Rotondo and Manfredonia, where the phenomenon of bird clouds has become daily and pressing. In addition to direct damage, indirect damage should not be underestimated.
A calamity to be fought
Starlings destroy the plots used for olive harvesting – insists Coldiretti Puglia – and olive growers are forced to fight a calamity without having the tools, condemned, almost, to reprogram their agricultural activity to avoid the destruction of production. Among other things, it is not only olive growing that is affected, given that the passage of flocks of starlings leaves such quantities of excrement on the vegetables as to make the product unpresentable on the market. Starlings have found nocturnal refreshment in protected areas, to resume their daytime feeding raids for months now, given that the anomalous heat of recent years has caused the protected species to convert from migratory to sedentary.
The most affected provinces
Particularly affected by the starlings was the olive growing sector in the provinces of Bari and Brindisi in the coastal road between Polignano a Mare, Castellana Grotte, Monopoli, Conversano, Alberobello, Locorotondo, Fasano, Cisternino, Ostuni, Ceglie Messapica, Villa Castelli, Francavilla Fontana, San Michele Salentino, Latiano, Carovigno, San Vito dei Normanni, Mesagne, Brindisi and on the Gargano in Manfredonia, San Giovanni Rotondo, San Marco in Lamis, Rignano Garganico, Apricena, Poggio Imperiale, Lesina, Sannicandro Garganico and Cagnano Varano, with damage ranging between 30 and over 60% – explains Coldiretti Puglia – borne by the olive trees.
Crops always at risk
In Puglia the damage caused by wildlife is enormous, with wild boars destroying crops and attacking humans and farmed animals - concludes Coldiretti Puglia - as well as wolves and wild dogs, starlings eliminate olive production and destroy pitches, hares literally devour entire vegetable fields, cormorants eat fish in aquaculture plants, but also green parrots that devour fruit and almonds, with damage amounting to over 20 million euros (source: Coldiretti).