The abnormally hotthe light rain and as if that wasn’t enough, the water that is “lost” due to sieve reservoirs is today leading to an unprecedented crisis. A product like theoil with the anxiety that grows especially among lovers and devotees of that “Good“ of our lands.
Generally speaking, the quantity of oil produced in a year depends on the climatic trend, which includes various factors. As he explains to us Giuseppe ArezzoThe president of the consortium for the protection of Monti Iblei DOP oilhigh temperatures favor olive fly which by hitting the olives consequently damages the production of the product. Many olives fall before ripening, or if harvested, the oil produced is not good. Added to this is the “drought” crisis that we are facing especially at the moment, two limiting factors which are essential for producers.
The consortium that includes Ragusa, Syracuse and a good part of province of Catania, produces a product appreciated in foreign markets and it is precisely from there and for this reason that it needs to be safeguarded. Sicily, like the whole of Italy, needs to import oil, what we have does not meet the needs, “we must ‘push’ at European level for the planting of more olive groves“.
Today the reality of the small producer in Sicily, the numbers are dropping dramatically. Unfortunately, it is precisely the small businesses that struggle to find water resources. A large producer, on the other hand, for land revenue purposes can invest in drilled wells to make up for the shortage. The small producer is suffering greatly from the drought.
In olive growing we talk about alternating years, year of loading and unloading and a good entrepreneur avoids this alternation of production, makes sure that it is constant. “We need to intervene in many things without drastic measures, the best pruning for example is the light pruning which is done almost every year and is limited to cutting small twigs, only in this way do we avoid stressing the plant. The same thing regarding theirrigationgiving water to the plant in a particularly hot period will favor the yield of the product both in terms of quality and quantity. All factors that make the oil good“.
From Drought we’ve been talking about it for a very long time, it’s not a recent thing, “it’s standard practice”. There are years in which she feels more and others in which her grip leaves slightly “breathe“. In a land like ours it is difficult for there not to be heat, but the fundamental question is another, “no one has ever made a decision that could be definitive“.
In Sicily we have approx 160 thousand hectares of land cultivated with olive groves. Of these, 16 thousand are cultivated to produce PGI oil, while 1040 hectares are intended for PDO oil. The production is certainly not insignificant, this year they can be counted 40 thousand tons of EVO oil, 1 million and 170 thousand IGP and 182 thousand DOP. All numbers that vary year after year, with an increase or decrease in the product. Has there been a drop in production this year?
“Absolutely yes. Every year we expect there to be a “rise” but this is never the case, with a reduction that can be 10% or 30%.“. With climate change now underway for years, and especially in recent times, nothing can be predicted, you just have to adapt. This is why the objective is to prepare producers and entrepreneurs to be able to deal with any type of situation, “we must find immediate solutions that can allow plants to produce despite having serious difficulties“.
What could be the solutions? “Allow companies to be able to create in a practical and easy way small invasionsthis could be the beginning“. To date, the bureaucratic process is endless, superintendence, civil engineering, municipality, province, civil and forestry protection, the process is very long, so much so that it forces entrepreneurs to give up from the start. “With all the constraints we have and the institutions that are responsible for controlling it, it is impossible to even think of creating something like this. In compliance with the rules, they must allow us to collect some water“.
You have to invest with some economic resources appropriate to ensure that water networks are increased, or to improve those networks that already exist but are ancient and old. “We have huge losses“.
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