his son died young as a punishment for his cutting a fig tree before its time
Rabbi Chanina stated that his son died young as a punishment for his cutting a fig tree before its time. Thus apart from the legal issue of destroying a productive tree, this law appears to carry with it severe Divine retribution.
Most authorities explain that this punishment is incurred only if a person cuts down a fruit tree without legitimate reason, but there is a minority opinion that it is incurred even if the tree is cut with good reason.
As a result, even in cases where a legitimate reason applies, people generally take an extra precaution of first selling the tree to a non-Jew, and having a non-Jew do the actual cutting. (The entire prohibition does not apply to non-Jews.) Your case is also better in that you are cutting one fruit tree to plant another, more productive one. Even with all of this, it's preferable, if possible, to leave a part of the original tree intact.
(Sources: Rambam Hil' Melachim 6:8-10, Rosh Baba Kama 8:15, Binayan Tziyon 61, Minchat Yitzchak X 69, Yabia Omer V Y.D. 12:7.)
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