With the heat favoring the rapid maturation of agricultural production in the fields, but exposing workers to the heat and the scorching sun, farmers are carrying out the activities of baling hay for animal feed, threshing legumes and work in the countryside. This is what Coldiretti Puglia states, underlining that high temperatures hinder agronomic operations in the countryside, so farmers are organizing work in the late evening and at night.
Agricultural production, already impoverished by the grip of drought that has lasted for months in Puglia, followed by the grip of extreme and sudden heat, must be harvested to guarantee food supplies to the population such as fruit and vegetables needed to combat the heat. It is not possible – underlines Coldiretti Puglia – to completely suspend processing, since most of the crops are grown right now, from fruit to vegetables, which if not promptly harvested are irremediably compromised also because the heat accelerates the ripening processes, unlike what happens in other sectors where activities can be suspended and workers can also access the redundancy fund.
We try to bring forward the harvest when possible – continues Coldiretti Puglia – we thin out the fruit on the trees, eliminating those unable to reach maturity, to try to save at least part of the production. But the scorching heat also hinders agronomic and harvesting operations which must be suspended during the hottest hours to protect the health of workers while it becomes impossible to work in the greenhouses.
The African heat of these days also cuts the production of eggs, milk and honey, when the boiling heat and the lack of water – specifies Coldiretti Puglia – have also caused the production of fodder, oats and barley, necessary for food, to collapse. of livestock with the drought which halved the production of wheat and other cereals, critical issues which are recorded throughout the region where with the peak of temperatures – underlines Coldiretti Puglia – there is no water necessary to irrigate the crops located in a water stress situation.
For cows – underlines the regional Coldiretti – the ideal climate is between 22 and 24 degrees, beyond this limit the animals eat little, drink a lot and produce less milk, when with high temperatures each individual animal can drink up to 140 liters of water a day against the 70 of the less hot periods. For. For this reason – notes Coldiretti Puglia – anti-muggy countermeasures have already been triggered in the stables where fans and cooling showers have also been put into operation to better withstand the heat and meals are given a little at a time to help the cows feed themselves better without getting heavy. The entire agricultural sector is affected, having become scorching and dry – reports Coldiretti Puglia – with over 164 million cubic meters of water less than the capacity of the reservoirs, with seasonal agricultural products at risk in the fields.
To protect the health and safety of workers, Coldiretti specifies, it is therefore necessary to adopt ad-hoc strategies that preserve both the health of workers and the quality of the product in the field that risks being irremediably lost, from the use of protective devices to stopping harvesting during the hottest hours to working at night.
A confirmation of the ongoing climate changes which have changed above all the temporal and geographical distribution of rainfall so much so that the drought which has become the most significant calamity for Apulian agriculture with damage estimated at over 70 million euros per year especially due to the quantities and the quality of the harvests, according to the Coldiretti Puglia analysis.
