With the hottest April ever in almost 1/5 of the European territory there is a drought alarm , between 16.7% of areas on orange alert and another 1.5% where the situation is in "red" and which also includes the regions of Southern Italy. And even in Sardinia there have been declines in artichokes, industrial tomatoes, cereals, fruit and fodder, with repercussions on livestock farming.
This is what emerges from a Coldiretti analysis of data from the European Copernicus Drought Observatory relating to the third ten days of April. Last month was globally the warmest on record , with an average surface air temperature of 15.03 degrees, 0.67°C above the April average for the 30-year reference period 1991-2020, according to the United States weather service. EU.
Despite the bad weather that hit Italy in recent weeks and the new disturbance on the way, the situation remains difficult in the South, not only on the island but also in Sicily, where the production of fodder for animals is practically zero . The situation of wheat is also difficult, as it is unable to grow due to the lack of rain, according to Coldiretti monitoring. A problem that also affects the breadbasket of Italy, Puglia, where Coldiretti estimates a 30% drop this year due to the drought, while legumes and some varieties of fruit are also in difficulty.
The lack of water for irrigation, due to dry basins and crumbling infrastructure, is weighing on crops. For this reason, Coldiretti has relaunched the proposal for a plan of storage reservoirs with pumping, promoted together with Anbi, to collect the water that falls and make it available for crops. The lakes would be built without cement, with local stone and with the same excavated earth with which they were prepared. The objective is to collect 50% of rainwater – concludes Coldiretti – which could be used for a variety of other uses, reducing the withdrawal of drinking water.
(Unioneonline/D)