Difficulty in the development of fruit and vegetables, oranges and salads which cannot grow adequately due to lack of water. These are the main problems for Sardinia struggling with the state of drought.
The high temperatures of winter do not help nature after 2023 recorded 14% less precipitation and a temperature 1.14 degrees higher than the historical average for the period 1991-2020.
Coldiretti underlines the anomaly with the mercury column which in the sunniest hours of the weekend rises to spring values from Trento to Palermo.
The unseasonal heat favors early awakening in all plants, and this also applies to blooms such as mimosas, more than a month earlier than the date of March 8th. And the danger is that of exposing crops to the damage of a predictable, subsequent, sharp drop in temperatures with the consequent loss of crops.
The drought, Coldiretti reminds us, puts the sowing of cereals, legumes and vegetables at risk, but also the fodder in the pastures which is in sharp decline. The lack of water causes repercussions on costs for businesses, which have also increased due to the rise in fodder prices, while in Puglia drought and sirocco winds with high humidity levels have also reduced artichoke production by 60%.
As regards the Sardinian reservoirs, in particular, on January 1st there was 21% less water compared to the same period of the previous year while in those of Sicily in January 2024 the deficit was 13% compared to the year previous according to Coldiretti analyzes on data from the Regional Hydrographic Departments.
(Unioneonline/ss)
