Sigh of relief for the farmers affected by the earthquake on the Mapre affair (acronym for emergency rural prefabricated housing modules) which will not be taken away from the livestock farms. The rental contract was in fact extended throughout 2024 after the intervention of the Marche Region, following the indications of the Extraordinary Commissioner for Reconstruction. He applauds Coldiretti Marche who was the first to raise the alarm last March and ask for the maintenance of the structures. At the time the Region had informed that the Mapre, the rural housing modules designed to allow farmers to continue to live near the farms and allow them to look after the animals on a daily basis, would have to be released by 7 June. A contribution had been provided for the occupants for independent accommodation in the municipality of residence but the decision had worried the sector quite a bit.
«It is extremely difficult to find accommodation in rural areas and this will force them to abandon their activities. There is a risk of depopulation and the preservation of the territory”, Coldiretti had ruled. Now comes the clearing. Farmers will be able to remain in the Mapre. The modules, 126 in total, had been installed together with 304 stable modules, 90 stables built directly by farmers and 253 barns in 2016, following the earthquakes, in the provinces of Ascoli, Fermo and Macerata. «We are satisfied – is the comment of Maria Letizia Gardoni, president of Coldiretti Marche – and we give credit to the extraordinary commissioner Castelli for having intervened to remedy a situation that could have further worsened the lives of livestock entrepreneurs. The work, however, does not end here because we must also define the post-emergency period. In our opinion, all the structures, which in many cases represented an improvement compared to the old structures present, should be maintained, giving companies the opportunity to redeem them permanently”.
According to the Extraordinary Commissioner for the earthquake Guido Castelli, «the solution we identified for the Mapre modules for farmers affected by the earthquake was possible thanks to a fruitful collaboration with the Marche Region, which signed the provision, and in particular the President Francesco Acquaroli who shared a clear vision from the beginning on post-earthquake management in the Marche crater. Full collaboration also with the Civil Protection, with whom we are talking to find more stable solutions in the post-emergency future. In fact, our objective is to guarantee answers to farmers, who have always been of enormous value for our internal territories, also representing an essential safeguard for the protection of biodiversity and for the local economy”.
