MOBILIZATION BEGINS IN PUGLIA; THURSDAY 4/7 THOUSANDS OF FARMERS WITH TRACTORS IN THE SQUARE
The Coldiretti mobilization begins in Puglia to stop the invasion of wild boars and other wild animals, but the farmers with tractors will descend on the city on July 4th in Bari on the Lungomare Nazario sauro to ask for immediate interventions for the drought, with the chronic lack of water due to the failed management of water resources in Puglia, but also due to the lack of ‘reconstruction’ after the disaster caused by of farmers.
“With Puglia invaded by wild boars, there is not only the African plague, but there is an alarm for the safety of people in the countryside and in the city – denounces Alfonso Cavallo, president of Coldiretti Puglia – with the herds pushing into urban centers among parked cars, prams with children and elderly people who go shopping, they bathe in the sea, with the areas of the Murgia of Bari and Taranto, of the Gargano and of the Dauno sub-Apennines having become the Eldorado of wild boars, with a worrying frequency of road accidents”, but they devastate the crops by devouring Altamura lentils. grass peas, broad beans, chickpeas and peas, broccoli, vegetables, newly sown seedlings of field beans and wheat, grapes especially on espalier vines, fruit shaking the trees, all the undergrowth and the biodiversity of the woods and parks. “Coldiretti Puglia requests the immediate application at a regional level of the measures envisaged by the inter-ministerial decree launched last year for the adoption of an extraordinary plan for the management and containment of uncontrolled wildlife”, insists Pietro Piccioni, regional director of Coldiretti.
Another emergency is the drought – insists Coldiretti Puglia – with the failed management of water and reclamation in Puglia, starting from the lack of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance for which farmers are still sent crazy bills. The same goes for irrigation works, many of which are incomplete, often in a precarious state, with losses that are no longer sustainable and even the built reservoirs need to be requalified, expanded and made suitable for a modern distribution in the regional area. For this reason Coldiretti Puglia is calling for a permanent regional table for the irrigation and drought emergency that will immediately address the long-standing and pressing issues facing ARIF and the land reclamation consortia under special administration: Because of the leaky networks, 1 out of 2 liters of water is lost, a waste that cannot be afforded, from the efficiency of the supply and drainage networks to the completion of unfinished systems, from the extraordinary maintenance of collective irrigation systems, including wells and drinking water distribution networks in rural areas to the renewal of agreements with the Basilicata and Molise Regions, from the expansion and implementation of systems suitable for modern distribution in the regional area to the long-standing issue of the land reclamation consortia under special administration.
One of the most devastating effects of the lack of water has manifested itself – insists Coldiretti Puglia – precisely on the production of wheat in Puglia, estimated to be down 40-45% this year due to the prolonged drought that has gripped the entire region for months causing yield cuts. On the other hand, the quality is extraordinary with an average of 85 specific weight and 14 protein, for which Coldiretti Puglia does not accept any policy of reducing the prices of Made In Italy wheat, with the drain on the Granaio d’Italia making interventions necessary to help companies that have lost production and income, also in the face of now unsustainable increases in production costs.
But the recently discovered, the launch of a second plan for the regeneration of the areas affected by Xylella fastidiosa in Puglia and a full and conscious involvement of National Institutions and Europe on the Xylella problem.
