«Rising temperatures and lack of rain are putting agriculture in Sicily in crisis. A desperate appeal comes from our cooperatives as supply chains such as the wine and fruit and vegetable sectors, already severely affected by climate change and downy mildew, literally risk collapse.” Cristian Maretti president of Legacoop Agroalimentare underlines the dramatic situation experienced in the Sicilian countryside and not only given the declaration of the state of crisis and regional emergency which occurred at the end of March by the Sicily Region with the forced reduction of the use of water and rationing also for domestic purposes. What weighs heavily «as the Sicilian cooperatives of Legacoop Agroalimentare say, is, yes, the drought but also the now structural lack of water in the reservoirs», continues Maretti. «The crisis affecting the Sicilian invasions risks having dramatic repercussions on the island’s agricultural production». In March alone, 300 millimeters of rain fell, but it was the seventh consecutive month with below-normal rainfall.
«On Earth Day, the difficult situation in Sicily is an urgent invitation to ensure that sustainability is a style that characterizes everyone’s choices and actions as it has always been for cooperative supply chains», comments Maretti.
For the Region, losses in agriculture are up to 2.7 billion euros. The weight of agriculture in Sicily is important. It is among the Italian regions with the largest used agricultural surfaces (1,342 million hectares, 338 thousand destined for organic), it has 142,416 companies active in the agricultural sector which reach 160,629 (13% of the Italian total) with the entire agri-food sector , and a production value of 9.7 billion euros. The Region has estimated losses of between 1 and 2.7 billion euros depending on whether or not rainfall occurs in the months of April and May.
Measures to support the agricultural and livestock sectors. With the drought, what is in crisis and suffering damage, Maretti continues, are «agriculture and livestock where, among other things, the lack of hay supplies and the absence of green pastures weighs heavily. This is why it is urgent that a national emergency be declared in Sicily and compensatory measures capable of lifting the agri-food sector now on its knees are necessary on the part of the Region and Government”, comments the president of Legacoop Agroalimentare.
The risk, highlights Filippo Parrino president of Legacoop Sicilia, «is the closure of dozens of companies with the consequent impoverishment of the countryside and our agricultural heritage. The declaration of a state of emergency is the only tool, at the moment, capable of providing relief to the agri-food economy of Sicily which now, in code red, cannot afford bureaucratic delays”.
