There is little talk about it in the newspapers and on the news, but the drought is plaguing Sicily and the animals are paying the highest price first and foremost. “The situation is dramatic, we urgently need water – is the cry of alarm raised by Luca Cammarata, owner of a farm in Caltanissetta. – Seeing the goats drinking mud and no longer having the strength to stand up is disheartening.” . We tell you about the devastating consequences of the drought on the island, where we can no longer speak of an emergency.
@Luca Cammarata
Hundreds of goats exhausted by the heat and thirst, drinking from an artificial lake where now only mud remains: the scene, immortalized in the province of Caltanissetta, which seems to have become a desert, shows us the devastating impact of Drought in Sicily. For the island, the water shortage is no longer an emergency but a structural problem that no one has so far been able to address effectively.
@Luca Cammarata
In recent years the situation has gotten worse, but now the situation is dramatic, we have never been reduced like this. – tells our microphones Luca Cammarata, owner of the organic farm of the same name in Caltanissetta, which is located on the Nissene hills and raises 300 Girgentana goats to produce milk, cheese and yogurt. – We have no supplies and the bodies that should take care of them are not providing us with aid.
Fortunately, solidarity was not lacking and Coldiretti made tankers available, but only to buffer just a few days. We cannot move forward in these conditions.
There are many other ranchers and farmers in the area who are suffering from water shortages. And the losers are first and foremost hundreds of animals, who – dehydrated – can no longer even stand up.
They await us in the next few days temperatures over 40°C, animals must drink. We urgently need water. We are also appealing to the Army, Civil Protection, Fire Brigade, anyone who can give us a hand. – continues Cammarata, who also raises around 150 cattle – Tomorrow we will have a meeting with the Prefect to declare the crisis unit, hoping that all this will be resolved. This is not acceptable. Isn’t seeing animals dying of thirst as bad as a fire, if not worse? This is not just an economic problem for the company, It’s truly disheartening to see living beings collapse and die.
Sicily is in the red zone and turns to the EU
In Sicily the scenario becomes more distressing every day: the wave of drought that is plaguing the island is one of the worst in the last 50 years. So the regional government turned to the European Union and the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Sovereignty, asking to “recognize the conditions of force majeure and exceptional circumstances”.
Sicily is now placed in red zone due to water shortages, like countries such as Morocco and Algeria. Due to the lack of rainfall, it was already necessary to resort to water rationing in dozens of Sicilian municipalities between Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Palermo and Trapani at the beginning of the year.
With the arrival of the sultry heat due to the strengthening of the Minos anticyclone, the situation has worsened: the basins are increasingly dry. For the agricultural and livestock sector this year, a loss equal to an average of 50% of production is estimated if there were to be some summer rainfall (but this is quite unlikely) and 75% if this were not to occur.
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Source: Sicily Region
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