“Up to 30% of Italian agricultural products at risk” – Corriere.it
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Agricultural sector already below 6 billion
As CIA-Agricoltori explains, the agricultural sector, already 6 billion euro short due to the water crisis, is preparing to experience a new summer of large deficits, with production drops of 10% for vegetables and, in some areas, up to 30% for corn and rice. And the numbers already indicate that the situation is serious. It’s not just about agriculture. According to the Cnr, between 6% and 15% of the Italian population now lives in territories exposed to severe or extreme drought. This means that for at least three and a half million Italians, tap water can no longer be taken for granted. It is proof of the sensational mistake made by those who consider drought to be a purely agricultural problem, even though the primary sector and food sovereignty are the first to be threatened by it, explained Francesco Vincenzi, president of the National Association of Management Consortia and the protection of the territory and irrigation waters (Anbi). A week ago, the Po was already -3.2 meters below the hydrometric zero at the Ponte della Becca, in the province of Pavia, as reported by the data collected by Coldiretti. All the other watercourses in Northern Italy and the great lakes are also suffering: the filling percentage of Lake Como is just 20 percent.
The proposals of Cia
Returning to agriculture, according to CIA calculations, the areas lost, from 2012 to today, would have ensured the infiltration of 360 million cubic meters of rain. A panacea for the current worrying situation. Among the proposals that the Farmers’ Association puts forward in view of the interministerial meeting convened on March 1 by Palazzo Chigi, there are the finalization of an infrastructural plan for small lakes and reservoirs to complement the actions already envisaged with the Pnrr and for the reuse for agricultural use of purified wastewater. Furthermore, it is urgently necessary to start experimenting in the open field of new genetic improvement techniques (New Breeding Techniques – NBT) and to give the country a national law against soil consumption. The drought in Italy, continues Cia, is now structural, with 45% less snow in the Alps (compared to 2022) and reservoirs that manage to retain no more than 11% of water, when it would be necessary to reach at least 30% to start to reason, especially in the North.
Rice and corn plantations are at risk
From Piedmont to Emilia-Romagna, with the Po dry, the water crisis could remove up to 8,000 hectares of rice, given the abandonment already underway, while the sowing of corn, strategic for farms, is already dropped to the national historical minimum of 564,000 hectares, over 30% in Veneto alone, and recorded a drop of 21 million tonnes at EU level. For some time we had been urging decisive action by the Government with respect to the drought emergency and the water crisis – comments the national president of CIA, Cristiano Fini -. Now, having also accepted our requests, we expect a quick, targeted and concrete approach from the representatives of the ministries of the Environment, Infrastructure, Agriculture, European Affairs, Cohesion and Pnrr and the Department of Civil Protection who, very soon, will find themselves discussing together to launch a plan of interventions in the short and long term.
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