There are almost 30 thousand agricultural businesses run by women and young people under 35 in Puglia, despite the uncertainty caused by conflicts and the critical international scenario, new green and innovative generations who have chosen to invest their future in the countryside where they bring innovation, sustainability , competitiveness and efficiency. This is what Coldiretti Puglia states, in commenting positively on the new Ismea tender, with the publication of the Masaf decree on “Measures in favor of youth and female self-entrepreneurship in agriculture”, which is expected to open between next June and July , with an available budget of 55 million euros. The support is reserved for micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises – explains Coldiretti Puglia – which take over the management of an entire agricultural company which has been active for at least two years at the date of submission of the application and which present projects for the development or consolidation of the company . They must be administered and conducted by a young person between the ages of 18 and 41 (not completed on the date of submission of the application) or by a woman, in possession of the qualification of professional agricultural entrepreneur or direct farmer.
There are more than 23 thousand farms run by women in Puglia who are revolutionizing the economy in an innovative sense – explains Coldiretti Puglia – on the basis of renewed female protagonism which must be supported with new incentive and rewarding measures. The ‘pink’ agricultural companies are giving a multifunctional and innovative face with ancient professions revisited in a modern key, in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Puglia, where the number of pink agritourisms is also growing (+ 3.7%), going from 286 to 305 in Puglia, demonstrating how women entrepreneurs have managed to make the most of the opportunities offered by multifunctionality in agriculture. Their presence in the countryside is revolutionizing work in the fields where they are capable of ranging from breeding to cultivation, from floriculture to agritourism, from product transformation to direct sales. But the real driving force of women in agriculture are social activities, from the educational farm to agri-kindergartens, but also important activities for the inclusion of less fortunate women, who are often victims of violence and abuse, in the world of work.
On the young entrepreneurs front, in Puglia 15.3% of the total farms are organic and 23% are employed in stables, with new green ideas to guarantee food and energy to Puglia against the crisis triggered by the war and the blockade of supplies of agricultural raw materials and Russian blackmail on gas and oil. Investing in young people means investing in the future and food sovereignty of the country in a situation in which 49.7% of young company managers have a high school diploma and 19.4% – highlights Coldiretti – have a degree according to a recent survey. The young agricultural businesses stand out for their size and above all for the leap in quality made in terms of digitalisation, innovation and professionalism and in fact have an average size of 18.3 hectares compared to the national average of 10.7 hectares, underlines Coldiretti. 12% of young businesses in the fields – specifies Coldiretti – carry out related activities which are therefore at the forefront of the multifunctional agriculture model with important impacts on the environment and the community, as in the case of the production of renewable energy or social agriculture .
Coldiretti for young people and women launches a broad proposal for the consolidation of the sector through training, simplification, flexible tools for access to work, incentives to be able to operate quickly and promote investments in innovation with a real economic and social relaunch of the regional agriculture, because the emergencies of recent years have brought out the awareness that agriculture is linked not only to the protection of health and the environment, but also to the security of supplies for the population and to the defense of the food sovereignty of countries. The greater appeal of working in the countryside is also reflected in school choices, with the boom in enrollments of students in professional institutes in Agriculture, Rural Development, Enhancement of Local Products and Management of Forest and Mountain Resources – concludes Coldiretti Puglia – to which he adds moreover, the Agriculture, Agri-food and Agro-industry branch of technical institutes increased by 17%.
