Italy is split in two by the weather conditions and the consequences on the ground. There hail it especially struck al Northbut also in Puglia And Campania with incalculable damage to vineyards, fruit trees, vegetables, corn and hay crops and with a serious unknown: how much the delays in sowing will really affect the many fields that are now unusable because they are still flooded by the recent rains.
All while he is there Drought reigning supreme in Sicily, the worst in the last sixty years, where farmers demonstrated under Palazzo d’Orleans in Palermo against the slowness and inefficiencies of Sicilian region in dealing with the island’s water crisis, a situation that was only resolved yesterday, 3 June 2024, with the signature by the president of the regional council Renato Schifani of a document proposed by Coldiretti Sicily.
North, damage and fields not suitable for sowing
Hail on cherries, vineyards and vegetables in the field, land unusable due to water and mud that have accumulated, late sowing and at high risk: this is the picture that emerges from the monitoring of Coldiretti on the effects of the new wave of bad weather that hit Northern Italy.
The situation is serious Veneto. In the Padua area, hail hit the area of Agna devastating an agricultural area of over three hundred hectares, seriously destroying cherries, vegetables, corn, wheat and soybeans, with damage up to 100% of the production. The ice grains had also hit the South in recent days, with devastating effects in the area Benevento in Campania with very serious damage to the vineyards, and in Leccesein Puglia, where open-field crops were destroyed, from courgettes to watermelons, from tomatoes to carrots, from onions to potatoes up to aubergines and peppers.
In many areas of the North the land is still flooded, with the mud preventing entry to carry out the cultivation operations necessary for sowing, starting with rice.
Verona, heavy rain and hail damage
In particular, from Verona, Confagricoltura reports that corn and hay, in addition to cherries, are the main victims of intense and continuous rains which characterized, in addition to the month of May, also the first days of June. According to the agricultural organization, the toll is heavy: the corn plantations are under stress asphyxia and possible losses of 20-30% of the product are calculated. As far as hay is concerned, the fallow, i.e. the first cut, has been lost and there are fears of poor quality of the future harvest.
“It was a month of anomalous rainfall, which caused great suffering to the cornespecially where there have been flooding – explains Alberto De Tognipresident of Confagricoltura Verona -. In some areas the damage is extensive, with probable production losses. In others the picture is patchy: there are those who sowed very early and were saved, those who sowed late and lost everything, with root asphyxiation of the plants. Now all sowings are late, due to rainfall, including that of soybeans. But I want to be optimistic and hope that, if the weather clears up, we can try to close the gap. For them forage we lost the entire first harvest for hay production, with a deterioration in quality. In terms of quantity, however, we hope to be able to recover”.
For them cherriesHowever, the situation is already largely compromised. “Due to the bad weather we lost most of the early ones – He says Francesca Aldegheripresident of the fruit growers of Confagricoltura Verona -, but we hoped that the weather would fix itself as it did last year. Instead, another fifteen days of rain, combined with temperature changes and hail, also spoiled the medium varieties, with 50-60% damage. So a production that will be quantitatively scarcewith a collection much more difficult and laborious due to the painstaking selection work. Therefore higher costs compared to normal years, in the face of reduced quantities. It seems that from Wednesday the weather will improve and a phase of stability will begin. We hope that this is indeed the case, because there are still many varieties to be harvested and because the heat and sun can also push consumption.”
Drought, the emergency in Sicily
If mainland Italy has to deal with bad weather, in Sicily the emergency remains dramatic Droughtwith cattle and sheep without water nor food because of the lack of precipitation et al drying up of the basins and traditional water supplies in private lakes. And the damage to crops goes up to 100% of the entire production.
A situation that had arisen last week twenty thousand farmers of Coldiretti in the square in Palermo to ask the Sicilian Region for urgent interventions to save stables and companies. Under the headquarters of the organization, in Palazzo d’Orleans, a permanent garrison with tents had been set up, which remained active until the answers expectations.
To aggravate the effects of the drought, in fact, there are years of inaction on the part of the institutions, with a sieve water network that prevents even the little water available from reaching the countryside, while farmers are strangled by tripled production costs and astronomical bills.
The president of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifaniwho descended yesterday among the agricultural entrepreneurs who remained seven days and seven nights in front of Palazzo d’Orleans for the protest launched after the demonstration of 28 May last, signed all the proposed points from Coldiretti Sicilia after days of meetings and negotiations. Schifani wanted to clarify directly to the farmers the correctness of the event, highlighting how Coldiretti’s contribution was decisive in dealing with the emergencies of this dramatic period linked to the drought which is bringing the entire sector to its knees.
Breeders will then have the hay thanks to a voucher. They will be able to purchase it from the official retailers indicated in the list provided by the Region, as requested by the thousands of farmers who have taken to the streets and who have been fighting for the survival of their fields and animals for months. Coldiretti’s other great victory concerns the political table, fundamental because in this way all the departments that work in the various sectors of agriculture and agri-food will be able to find solutions and funds to deal with situations before they become emergency. Another crucial issue for Coldiretti concerned the reclamation consortia: each commissioner will be supported by a consultation of farmers who can now give their contribution to a specific Control Room.
