(Finance) – It is unacceptable that farmers have to continue to work at a loss; it is inconceivable that in Italy, the EU’s leading producer of durum wheat, production costs for the sector continue to increase, while market prices decrease; it is not possible that the Granaio Italia electronic register has not yet been established. We have collected over 75 thousand signatures with the online petition “save-wheat” Made in Italy, having shared our dossier of proposals and requests with the institutions, we took to the streets in Rome on October 26th. Cia-Agricoltori Italiani launches yet another appeal to the Government: hurry up and give concrete answers to the cereal sector in emergency.
Today, we read in a CIA note, considering the latest prices on durum wheat of around 37 euros per quintal and farmers’ yields of around 30 quintals per hectare, we actually arrive at a gross salable production of 1,100 euros per hectare, but with production costs far higher than 1,400 euros per hectare.
Not only that, the first CIA data on new sowings report a worrying decline in the areas cultivated with durum wheat of approximately 130 thousand hectares, a loss such that the country is expected to have one of the lowest harvests ever, also due to climate change.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, there are the EU policies penalizing farmers, the low list prices and the increasingly significant imports from third countries which risk humiliating companies in the sector, forcing them to abandon them with serious repercussions, not only economic, but also social and environmental. More attention and transparency is needed for the durum wheat market, says Cia, not underestimating the growing imports from Russia and Turkey, not traditionally exporters to Italy.
“We will not tire of reiterating our requests – concludes the national president of CIA, Cristiano Fini– and among these, the urgency of the electronic inventory register, Granaio Italia, to guarantee greater transparency on the markets, and a certification of production costs to clearly define the terms of negotiation. At stake is our cereal heritage, an excellent raw material for pasta, a symbol of Made in Italy in the world with almost 4 million tonnes of annual national production and a turnover of around 7 billion euros”.
(Photo: Melissa Askew on Unsplash)