The information website by, for and about
the tomato processing industry globally

The drought in Italy: a national state of emergency?

26/06/2017

2017 Season
François-Xavier Branthôme
Italy,
AMITOM
${printContents} `); printWindow.document.close(); printWindow.focus(); printWindow.print(); printWindow.close(); }); });
Drought alert: tomato crops under threat
 
On 12 June, the Pomodoro Nord Italia IO launched an alert regarding the water situation in Emilia Romagna, which is likely to threaten processing tomato crops. "We need to undertake concerted and concrete action in order to face the emergency of the water resources situation in the western part of Emilia Romagna, where the tomato growing industry is threatened." This message was addressed by the President of the Pomodoro Nord Italia IO, Tiberio Rabboni, to the Emilia-Romagna regional Minister for the environment, Paola Gazzolo, and the regional Minister of agriculture, Simona Caselli.
"From all over the industry, we are hearing many reports describing the major difficulties resulting from the extreme water conditions that are prevailing, compounded by weather conditions that have rarely been so unfavorable in the past. Tomato crops are really under threat. Current water resources are clearly insufficient to ensure appropriate and adequate irrigation. The industrial sector is also concerned about the consequences for factories of major difficulties in terms of water supplies during this summer's processing season. Beyond these worries, there is also unfortunately a high probability that the current scenario will get worse in the coming weeks.”
 
Mr. Rabboni has been pushing for a state of emergency to be declared regarding water supplies at the regional level by Emilia-Romagna's civil protection authorities, and he has written to the Minister to request "the immediate setting up of a crisis unit, like what has already been done in the past, made up of representatives from the Ministries of the Environment and of Agriculture, of the different organizations active in the field of land development and protection, of the IO and of all the stakeholder organizations, in order to improve the general approach to this water emergency situation. The aim is to identify as quickly as possible the real priorities and actions to be undertaken in order to lessen the impact of a situation that could badly affect an entire sector of the regional food industry if it is not dealt with.”
 
Some complementary data
Percentage of normal rainfall in southern Europe in April and May 2017.
In Emilia-Romagna, the low rainfall levels – accumulated levels from October 2016 to early June 2017 – have had an impact on the availability of water resources (surface water, storage, rivers and groundwater). The worst deficits have been observed in the provinces of Piacenza and Parma where, until last May, accumulated rainfall was 40 to 50% lower than the quantities normally expected (between 200 and 300 mm below usual levels).
 
Similarly, less pronounced water shortages have affected the East Central part of the region, with rainfall deficits between 20 and 40% for the provinces of Reggio Emilia, Modena and a large part of Romagna, as well as deficits lower than 20% for the provinces of Ferrara, Bologna and Ravenna. Only the coastline has been spared these difficult conditions.
 
As of 12 June, no change was expected in the weather conditions for the next two weeks, and forecasts have announced an aggravation of the deficits already observed.
 
The tomato industry in Emilia-Romagna
The data available for 2016 shows that the region planted 26 504 hectares of processing tomatoes last year, which is approximately 70% of the northern Italian crop. 9 840 hectares were grown in the province of Piacenza, 7 429 hectares in the province of Ferrara, 4 667 hectares around Parma, 2 100 hectares in Ravenna, 1 050 hectares in Reggio Emilia, 900 hectares in Modena, etc.
23 processing plants were operational last year in the region, processing 2.357 million tonnes of raw tomatoes, accounting for a total of 84% of the processing activity of northern Italy.
 
Sources: OI Pomodoro Nord Italia, www.arpae.it, Italian press

For further details: 
 

Download PDF file
Download PDF file