DI.OL. – Italian Project for insight on the management and control measures against harmful organisms in conventional and intensive olive crops

Abstract: “DI.OL.” – Defense from harmful organisms in conventional and intensive olive crops – is a three-year project running in the frame of the Italian Olive Grove Plan (PON) and granted by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. To achieve the principal objectives of the Plan, the phytosanitary protection of the olive tree is of primary importance because of its repercussions on quality and quantity, both of product and of the whole olive-oil production chain. Therefore, the “DI.OL.” project will have, as primary objective, the study of a protection system addressed to the olive growers, making them aware of the importance of the same topic, to obtain a high quality product, and providing them with the necessary tools and know how. At the same time, the project will look for policies that allow greater environmental protection, together with greater safety of the final product and the biodiversity conservation. Mainly by the sustainable use of plant protection products, the project pertains to the obligatory nature of all aspects of the PAN (National Action Plan) which has as its ultimate goal the reduction of the risks and impacts of plant protection substances. The “DI.OL.” project is subdivided in five main work packages: a) Control strategies and containment of pests in traditional olive groves and in super-intensive systems; b) Control strategies for potential emerging pests, in intensive and traditional olive groves; c) Vectors of plant diseases; d) Transnational dissemination of the project acquirements and reduction of pesticide use in Italian olive crops production.