3000 farmers from Coldiretti Umbria, also with their tractors, mobilized this morning in Piazza Italia in Perugia, starting in procession from Piazza Partigiani, to ask for certain and immediate answers on the wild boar plague, but also on other urgent and no longer postponable issues, such as administrative simplification, the relaunch of the livestock supply chain and social agriculture.
The President of the Umbria Region Donatella Tesei, intervening among the demonstrators, announced the green light to the Extraordinary Plan for the management and containment of wild boars and to the Extraordinary Plan for the capture, killing and disposal of wild boars of the Extraordinary Commissioner of the PSA. Concrete measures were also announced on the administrative simplification front, on the relaunch of the livestock supply chain and on the Implementing Regulation of the Law on Social Agriculture, as also confirmed by the Regional Councilor for Agriculture Roberto Morroni who also reached the farmers in the square. All requests forcefully claimed by Coldiretti and accompanied by concrete proposals from the agricultural organization itself over the last few months.
“City and countryside united against wild boars”, but also “We sow, wild boars reap”, “We defend our territory”; “SOS agriculture, stop the wild boars!” “Nightmare boars of the streets”; “Against swine fever, let’s stop the siege of wild boars” “Stop bureaucracy, we want to work”; “Let’s save animal husbandry, let’s protect our farms”: these are just some of the slogans peacefully displayed by the farmers who attended from all over the region, led by the President of Coldiretti Umbria Albano Agabiti, by the President of Coldiretti Perugia Anna Chiacchierini, by the President of Coldiretti Terni Dominga Cotarella, together to the Coldiretti Regional Director Mario Rossi.
We demonstrated today – President Agabiti stressed – against what is no longer just an economic problem for the sector, but also an environmental, public health and safety problem and other decisive needs for the primary sector. On wild boars we asked for extraordinary measures which the region granted us today; Prompt measures will arrive on the other instances. Our mobilization – continued Agabiti – takes place in various stages in all Italian regions, demonstrating how wild boars are a national plague, which in Umbria has taken on a high and particular severity with around 150 thousand wild boars estimated at the whole territory. But today we also reiterated other urgent requests for our agriculture. Administrative simplification: it is no longer possible for farmers to spend a third of their time on paperwork; Livestock supply chain: to enhance our farms; Social agriculture, with the centrality of the agricultural sector: no to changes to the regional law, yes to the regulation! All paths that President Tesei and Councilor Morroni assured us today that they will continue quickly.
It gets worse from month to month in Umbria – he has declared the Coldiretti Regional Director Mario Rossi – the alarm for the invasion of wild boars. Our Organization has worked hard on concrete proposals to protect the jobs and incomes of businesses. We never tire of demonstrating and taking to the streets, especially on an issue such as that of wild animals, given that they destroy production, besiege fields, cause road accidents with deaths and injuries and reach into urban centres. An alarm that concerns the countryside and the city, farmers but also citizens who want to contain a danger to the fields and roads. Wild boars that cause millions of euros of damage a year, devastating fields of wheat, barley, corn, vegetables and even vineyards. Added to the damage to crops was the alarm of African swine fever, which wild boars risk spreading in the countryside, endangering pig farms in the area. But today – Rossi reiterated – we have also relaunched on other urgencies that our farmers are strongly asking for to protect the regional primary sector, enhancing its competitiveness and strategic nature for the entire community. And on this too, important responses have arrived from the regional administration: as always, our work will end when the priorities that are important to agricultural businesses are fully implemented.
