ABRUZZO – Uncontrolled wildlife has caused around two hundred million euros worth of damage to Italian agriculture in the last year, of which around 5 million are estimated in Abruzzo, with cultivated fields literally razed to the ground, to which are added problems caused by wild imports of food from abroad, with production costs skyrocketing and prices paid in the fields below survival levels. This is the alarm launched by the Coldiretti provincial assemblies of Pescara – this morning in the museum of the people of Abruzzo – and of Teramo, currently underway in Mosciano Sant’Angelo (Blue Palace hotel) on the day of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the foundation of Coldiretti, celebrated throughout Italy on April 30th. This evening, at 6pm it will be the turn of the province of Chieti (Lanciano) and at 7pm L’Aquila (Fermi auditorium in Celano). A crucial day which, in the Pescara assembly, saw the participation of hundreds of members who literally besieged Pescara Vecchia.
At the center of the event, which was also attended by the head of the technical service of the national confederation Alessandro Apolito, were two main topics: damage from wildlife and the collection of signatures for the proposed European popular initiative law on transparency and origin.
“The damage caused by wild animals is only minimally reimbursed and often after many years, with a situation that has led many to give up reporting the attacks they have suffered – said Giuseppe Scorrano, president of Coldiretti Pescara in this morning’s meeting – Among other things, the few compensations that arrive never cover the real value of the destroyed product or the killed animal. To give an example, a producer of fine wine who has had his vineyard devastated by wild boars will only be compensated for the simple value of the grapes”.
“PIndeed, wild boars – added Pietropaolo Martinelli, regional president of Coldiretti Abruzzo – are the greatest danger also for citizens, with 170 road accidents with deaths and injuries caused in 2023 by impacts with wild boars and other wild animals, according to the analysis Coldiretti based on Asaps data, up 8% compared to the previous year. In Abruzzo in 2022, agricultural companies requested damages of almost 5 million euros”.
Hence the request that Pescara also made in the Coldiretti Teramo assembly “to put an immediate stop to the proliferation of wild animals, giving farmers the opportunity to defend their lands”, as highlighted by Emanuela Ripani at the opening of the meeting currently underway, highlighting that “it is necessary to defend the territory from a real invasion”.
The other problem that weighs on company balance sheets, as emerged from the day of celebration, is the collapse of prices paid to producers in many symbolic sectors, starting with wheat, aggravated by the phenomenon of unfair practices and the threat of invasion of foreign products with food imports increasing by 60% in the last decade reaching the record value of 65 billion euros, according to Coldiretti analysis on Istat data. “Products – highlighted Apolito in the Abruzzo assemblies – often come from countries that do not respect the same rules of food and environmental safety and respect for workers’ rights and which are often passed off as tricolors by exploiting the customs code which allows them to be “Italianized” thanks with minimal processing”. A dramatic phenomenon against which Coldiretti brought ten thousand farmers – including hundreds of Abruzzo – to the borders of Brenner, launching a great mobilization for a popular initiative European law proposal on the transparency of what we bring to the table, with the collection of a million signatures. “The campaign is officially launched in Abruzzo today – announces the regional director of Coldiretti Abruzzo Roberto Rampazzo – and can be supported by signing in all the farmers’ markets of Campagna Amica and in the Coldiretti offices and will also be promoted on social media with the hashtag nofakeinitaly ”.
