The ministry of agricultural, food and forestry policies announces that some measures have been activated to combat the drought emergency. Three main axes of intervention: activation of the national solidarity fund, increase in advances from European CAP funds, 700 million euros for the plan to strengthen and improve the efficiency of irrigation infrastructures.
“We are in the field - declared Minister Martina - to protect agricultural producers who are suffering damage from the prolonged drought of recent weeks. We strongly supported the amendment approved yesterday in the Senate for the activation of the National Solidarity Fund. It is also a necessary intervention for non-insured companies to allow the use of concrete tools such as the suspension of mortgage payments and welfare and social security contributions. We are ready to collaborate with the Regions in the damage census and the verification of the conditions to declare the state of exceptional weather adversity. At the same time, we asked the European Commission for the green light to increase advances from EU funds from the common agricultural policy. We will thus be able to increase advances by over 700 million euros, bringing them to 2,3 billion euros in October, and guarantee more liquidity for agricultural businesses. We are also moving forward with the strategic plan to give our territories better irrigation infrastructures, more efficient and with less waste of water. It is a necessary intervention looking at the medium term and the effect that climate change is producing more and more often on our productions. It is a key issue that we will also address on the occasion of the G7 agriculture in October in Bergamo, because new and more effective tools are needed to protect farmers from crises ”.
DROUGHT EMERGENCY - ACTIONS
ACTIVATION FOR NATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Thanks to an amendment to the Legislative Decree noon, approved yesterday in the budget committee of the Senate, companies affected by prolonged drought and which have not signed insurance policies will be able to access the benefits to favor the resumption of production activities provided for by law 102 of 2004.
The Regions concerned may approve the Declaration of Exceptions of Atmospheric Events by the 30 December 2017.
INCREASING ANCIENT EUROPEAN FUNDS
Mipaaf has also asked the European Commission to ensure greater liquidity for agricultural enterprises:
• authorize advances to be paid at least up to the 70% for direct payments and at least up to the 85% for support granted under the surface measures of rural development;
• apply a greening derogation allowing farmers to use land left to rest for pasture / mulching even during periods when such practice is prohibited.
700 MILLIONS OF EURO PER PLAN ON IRRIGUE INFRASTRUCTURE
As a strategic investment over the medium term, Mipaaf has launched a call for improvement of irrigation infrastructure with a budget of approximately 600 million and will be closed by August 31. To this is added an investment of 107 million euros on 6 irrigation works already cantierabili and whose work will begin in the early months of 2018.
THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT - ANALYSIS OF CREA
According to an analysis by Crea, a research institute of Mipaaf, in 2016 alone, the average annual temperature marked a new record, being +1,35 ° C higher than in the thirty years 1961-1990.
To this situation, the hydrological and thermal abnormalities that have characterized the last few months, with temperatures far above average (+ 3,2 ° C), combined with a strong drop in precipitation (-53% compared to the average of June ).
The drought situation in recent months worsened further in May and June 2017, causing damage throughout the territory, with particularly serious effects especially in the hydrographic districts of the Eastern Alps and the Po region, where, for example, the hydrometric level of the river Po - on whose water basin depends 35% of the national agricultural production - has dropped 3,23 meters below the hydrometric zero.
Such conditions have produced, and are producing, a serious economic damage to crops and farms. The first estimates show production losses in the 40-50% in the cereal sector, as well as a substantial contraction in the national milk production.
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