L’AQUILA – The regional councilors of Abruzzo Insieme, Vincenzo Menna and Giovanni Cavallari, participated in the third commission to deal with the downy mildew emergency which is devastating the wine sector of the region. During the session, industry representatives were heard, who forcefully expressed their concerns and urgent requests to address this unprecedented crisis.
The mayors of several affected municipalities, including Tollo, Rocca San Giovanni, Torino di Sangro, Orsogna and Allanno, attended the meeting. Angelo Radica, mayor of Tollo and president of the Città del Vino association, opened the speeches by presenting a document signed by fourteen agricultural and wine organizations, one hundred and thirteen mayors and thirty-four cooperative wineries. The request is clear and urgent: “act quickly” to implement all possible actions, as many companies risk closing by September.
Alessandro Nicodemi, president of the Abruzzo wine protection consortium, concluded the interventions by asking for concrete and immediate actions, followed by Luciano Di Labio, president of Vinco, who reiterated the need to move from words to deeds.
The damage of downy mildew
Downy mildew has caused extensive damage, estimated at around two hundred million euros in the Abruzzo region alone. The sector associations have asked for a minimum intervention of eighty million euros to deal with the emergency. The Abruzzo Region, represented by councilor Emanuele Imprudente, announced the immediate availability of ten million euros, with the possibility of another seven million by the end of the year. However, these figures are far from covering the overall damage suffered by agricultural businesses.
The disparity in attention and resources allocated between the blight crisis and other emergencies is evident. While the blue crab caused damage estimated at one hundred and thirty million euros along a very short stretch of the Adriatic coast of Veneto, downy mildew exceeded one billion euros in damage. Despite this, the compensation for the blue crab has reached thirty million euros, while for the downy mildew there is only talk of ten million, with perhaps another seven on the way.
In addition to asking for additional resources from the Abruzzo Region, a structural intervention was requested from the National Government. Recognition of the state of disaster is crucial to obtain the funds necessary to support the affected farms. Menna and Cavallari expressed the need for the representatives of the regional majority to act as spokespersons for the Government to obtain the necessary recognition and resources.
