“The dangerous supply chain represents Italian excellence, in particular in Emilia-Romagna, in Europe and in the world and it must be defended and supported so that it survives the effects of this deep and prolonged crisis, dictated by climate change as well as by increasingly aggressive plant diseases and alien insects, which it has been facing for over five years, with insufficient production to guarantee income to producers and hectares in continuous contraction. The sector asks scientific research for effective answers but it takes time so that the solutions arrive and make the difference: in the meantime, however, there is a supply chain to be saved and It is necessary for Brussels and Italy to deploy concrete and immediate resources to allow thousands of families and businesses to overcome this very long productive winter. It will be my commitment to ensure that these resources arrive and that the Italian pear survives.”
As Guglielmo Garagnani, candidate in the European elections for Brothers of Italy (North-Eastern constituency) and expression of the agricultural world he encountered the leaders of Fruit Modena Group, Modena cooperative specialized in the danger sector, during its electoral tour.
“According to the data, in 2011, almost 930 thousand tonnes of pears were produced in Italy, while in 2023, between frosts and plant diseases, the share stopped at 180 thousand tonnes, i.e. 80% less. A production that cannot guarantee the survival of a supply chain made up of thousands of companies and tens of thousands of jobs. And so the supply chain slowly disappears: producers cut down pear trees and change crops: from 2021 to 2023 the pear surface area in Italy decreased by 35%. We are talking about approximately 15,000 hectares less which have disappeared mainly in the north, in the most suitable territories: from Emilia-Romagna, especially in the provinces of Modena and Ferrara, in Veneto, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In Modena, in 2023, 80% of the pears were missing, in Ferrara 60% and 2024 looks like another year, yet another, of low production due to hail damage, excessive rain and the wind that knocked many ripening fruits to the ground.”
“Pear producers don’t want to give up but without production there is no income and without income companies close and a supply chain that guarantees thousands of jobs collapses, from the agricultural phase to that of packaging, to transformation. They are needed to relaunch the sector innovative cultivation techniques, new varieties resistant to climate and plant diseases, effective active defense systems are needed such as anti-hail or anti-insect nets, new irrigation techniques and new systems are needed to rationalize water consumption. Research is working at full speed to provide answers but science needs time. A time that the dangerous supply chain, if left alone, does not have. That’s why it is it is essential to stop Farm to Fork immediately, which has taken away the weapons from the supply chain to fight plant diseases. The sector needs the molecules banned by the EU which must return to the market; the exemptions provided for by the law in force on emergency situations must then be immediately activated. These will be some among my first commitments in Brussels, as part of consistent and direct support that allows us to ferry the danger sector out of the crisis, preserving a supply chain that is worth thousands of jobs and which is the history and tradition of these territories”.
READ ALSO:
 meets the pear supply chain: “Urgent intervention from Brussels is needed” – SulPanaro){kind=link}