“Once again exceptional weather events have severely affected some areas of the province of Caserta.
Damage and devastation that I was able to personally verify. I met and discussed with dozens of farmers and immediately activated a task force that will meet on Monday morning to start all the necessary procedures for the assessment and precise estimate of the damage”.
This was underlined by Nicola Caputo, Councilor for Agriculture of the Campania Region, during the inspection of the areas hit by the water bomb. Caputo was accompanied by the director of Coldiretti Caserta Giuseppe Miselli, the provincial vice president Francesco D'Amore, the mayor of Marcianise Antonio Trombetta, the regional councilor Maria Luigia Iodice, the municipal councilor of Marcianise Domenico Moriello and the municipal councilor of Orta di Atella, the agricultural entrepreneur Pasquale Lamberti.
The violent storm caused extensive damage, destroying approximately 800 hectares of tomato and other vegetable, corn and wheat crops, particularly in the municipalities of Marcianise, Gricignano, Orta di Atella and Succivo.
“We took immediate action – explains Caputo – aware that the current procedures for quantifying damage, in my opinion, should be profoundly changed: it is no longer plausible to detect damage exclusively with on-site checks, but we must use procedures and tools that digital and georeferencing technology allow us.
Unfortunately, the bureaucratic and administrative delays, and the long procedure required by European regulations, have not yet allowed us to create the Regional Paying Agency, without which it is not possible to have direct management of company files and give immediate answers to farmers, ensuring the closeness that agricultural effort deserves from the institutions".
According to initial estimates, the damages would amount to several million euros. An alarming figure that rekindles the debate on risk management in agriculture. "We need to radically change the EU's approach for the immediate future and that of our Government, which must acknowledge the failure of the national measure that used the resources of the regions of Central and Southern Italy to keep alive an insurance system built and focused on a few provinces and a few crops. Risk management - he concludes - is now too important and urgent to proceed with the inertia of the past".
Article published on 3 June 2023 - 20:35
