Almond growing in Puglia ready for relaunch, the results of the AMì project – BitontoLive.it

At the University of Bari, in the main hall of the Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, the final results of AMì (Almond Management Innovation), a project financed by Psr Puglia 2014 funds, were presented on May 30th. 2020 – Submeasure 16.2. Over two years of work with the collaboration of a large partnership capable of involving the whole of Puglia: research bodies such as the Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” worked side by side ”, the Agriculture and Environment Research Center of the Council for agricultural research and analysis of the agricultural economy (Crea-AA), the Institute of Food Production Sciences of the Cnr (Ispa), and then agricultural companies and cooperatives such as Tenute Guidotti, the “il Contado” cooperative and the “EqualTime” cooperative. The leader of the operational group is the Cia Agricoltori Italiani di Puglia, contact person for communication actions and project coordinator.

40% OF NATIONAL PRODUCTION

Puglia holds the Italian record with 40% of national almond production. The objective of the project is to bring together scientific institutions and agricultural entrepreneurs to relaunch the almond supply chain, with the transformation from a rustic culture to a cash crop. The results of the project are of great importance. The work carried out thanks to AMì has successfully launched a series of actions useful for optimizing the production phase, with innovative and economically sustainable protocols. Very important in this sense is smart irrigation, which allows a significant reduction in water consumption without reducing production. Furthermore, soil management is fundamental, including the use of almond husk as a mulch and an increase in production from 4 to 20%. The project made it possible to implement a series of experiments conducted in the field by the Amì Operating Group, relating to smart irrigation, the valorisation of the husk as a natural mulch, the control of adversities according to a bio-sustainable approach, with the aim of promoting the necessary synergy between the world of production and research, so as to increasingly innovate the almond growing sector.

THE INTERVENTIONS

The regional deputy vice-president Giannicola D’Amico spoke for Cia Agricoltori Italiani di Puglia. Speaking to illustrate the results of the project were Pasquale Losciale (Uniba), Liliana Gaeta (Crea-AA), Stefania Pollastro (Uniba), Antonia Tamborrino (Uniba), Enrico De Lillo (Uniba), Angelo Santino (Ispra-Cnr) and Carmine Summo (Uniba).