Food has become Italy’s main wealth, worth 580 billion euros in 2022, despite the difficulties linked to the pandemic, the energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine and the scenario dictated by climate change. Made in Italy agri-food is now worth almost a quarter of the national GDP. If we focus our attention on the sector in Emilia Romagna, the 2022 report of the Region highlights how the value of production which stood at around 5.8 billion euros, recording an increase on an annual basis of 455 million, equal to an increase in 8.5%. Emilia-Romagna’s exports of agri-food products also did well, exceeding 9 billion euros in 2022, almost 16% of what Italy sold abroad. This is what emerged from the discussion organized today by Fai-Cisl Emilia Romagna, the agri-food and environmental federation of the CISL, in a training day which involved the management group.
“Emilia Romagna is also characterized by the 44 PDO food products and 30 PGI wine products, which make regional production important not only in quantitative but above all qualitative terms – underlined the general secretary of FAI CISL Emilia Romagna Daniele Saporetti, who opened the meeting – The floods of last May brought the sector to its knees, with over 10 billion in damages suffered by companies, already burdened by other effects of climate change, which are already affecting the sector. Thousands of jobs are at risk, and today’s dialogue between unions and companies is an opportunity to define a common path to start.”
The round table was attended by the national Fai-Cisl General Secretary Onofrio Rota, the General Director of Agrentità Cristian Moretti, Fabio del Miglio, General Director of Greci and Marco Stoppa, product development coordinator of Orogel, moderated by Monica Lattanzi.
“Agri-food is a strategic sector undergoing great transformation with a presence, especially in agriculture, of 35% of immigrant workers, which in 2030, according to our projections, will be 50% of the total – said the Fai-Cisl General Secretary Onofrio Rota – Continuous dialogue with the business world is functional in identifying actions that can transform critical issues into opportunities. Far-sighted management of migratory flows, training and inclusion, valorisation of bilateral territorial agricultural bodies, will be able to provide answers on many fronts, especially to the shortage of manpower. In this area, our fight for legality continues, for overcoming ghettos and for combating the exploitation of irregular work, with the “Never again ghettos” campaign and with the monitoring of the social conditionality clause in the CAP. But we also need to work on professionalism, address the climate emergency in a structural way, invest in safety and innovation. Last but not least – added Rota – increasing the involvement of workers in company processes, as proposed by the popular initiative law launched by the CISL: in this way it will be possible to give a real relaunch to the sector and increase the quality and income of work in the agri-food sector”, concluded the trade unionist.
: “A change of pace is needed on young people, climate and international scenarios”){kind=link}