The harvest of oats and barley is also collapsing due to the drought which has already dried out the pastures where over a third of the fodder to feed the animals in the stables has been lost, with the difficulty of finding field beans, clover and fodder even from neighboring regions. This is reported by Coldiretti Puglia, which reports the critical state of the livestock world, limited on the one hand by the lack of feed for the animals due to drought and by high production costs.
“The fodder present in the stables is lignified, while the sowing is early for grazing – explains Coldiretti Puglia in a note – they didn’t even germinate due to the lack of water, with the increase in costs for the necessary reseeding to ensure food for the animals in the stables, with the oat and barley crops also going up in smoke due to the drought. The risk is the further increase in the cost of feed to supplement animal nutrition, which has already skyrocketed due to the rise in prices of the main raw materials such as soya, corn, cereals and fodder also due to the current crisis due to conflicts in Ukraine and Israel with farmers forced to bear the costs of seeds, but also expensive agricultural diesel“.
The trade association asks the institutions and companies themselves for immediate action. “The stability of the dairy sector must be guaranteed, which is important for the regional economy but also of social and environmental relevance – insists Coldiretti Puglia – because when a stable closes you lose an entire system made up of animals, meadows for fodder, typical cheeses and above all people committed to fighting, often for entire generations, the depopulation and degradation of territories especially in disadvantaged areas“.
“In Puglia there is a heritage of cheeses unique in the world in danger – reports the regional Coldiretti – where Fattoria Puglia ensures a decisive safeguard of a territory where maintenance is ensured precisely by the breeding activity, with the silent work of cleaning and compacting the soil carried out by the animals and a Made in Italy agri-food heritage that Puglia boasts 4 DOP cheeses, Burrata di Andria IGP and 17 specialties recognized as traditional by the MIPAAF, with specialties from Puglia such as Canestrato Leccese, Caciocavallo podolico Dauno, Caciocavallo della Murgia“.
“It is necessary to intervene immediately to contain the expensive energy and production costs with immediate measures to save companies and stables and structural ones to plan for the future – concludes Coldiretti – we need to work immediately on supply chain agreements between agricultural and industrial companies with precise qualitative and quantitative objectives and fair prices that never fall below production costs as required by the new law to combat unfair practices and speculation“.
