The farmers of Coldiretti Campania took to the streets in Naples to say “enough” to the maneuvers that are causing the prices of extra virgin olive oil and wheat—two symbols of our agri-food sector and the Mediterranean Diet—to collapse. ‘Speculation, deception, and lack of transparency are putting citizens’ health and the stability of national farms at risk, which are already in serious difficulty due to increased costs linked to the war in Iran,’ explained Ettore Bellelli, president of Coldiretti Campania.
Bellelli: ‘Citizens’ health is at risk’
Campania is not alone; the protest involved thirteen regional capitals with farmers gathering in front of the Prefectures, where a manifesto with the main demands was delivered. In addition to Naples, farmers mobilized in Rome, Bari, Bologna, Palermo, Florence, Cagliari, Pescara, Cosenza, Ancona, Perugia, Campobasso, and Potenza. ‘Our farmers,’ emphasized Salvatore Loffreda, director of Coldiretti Campania, ‘are demanding immediate action against the shameful attempts by traffickers: those who try to “strangle” businesses by paying wheat in the South below the threshing price—19 cents per kilo—while pasta costs at least 2 euros per kilo and bread 3 euros, or those who extort Italian producers by paying them below production costs.’
Healthy food and a proper diet: this is how a 12-billion-euro annual health cost can be avoided.
Extra virgin olive oil, a pillar of the Mediterranean Diet, is one of the symbolic cases of Made in Italy under attack. Over the past year, the price of the product has collapsed by 50%, while the costs borne by national producers have increased by over 200 euros per hectare, according to the Divulga Study Center. ‘The numbers don’t add up,’ Coldiretti Campania reported, ‘because there are those who falsify the origin, deceiving citizens and farmers, even hiding behind the latest substantial transformation of the customs code, which must be abolished for all foods.’
Coldiretti’s demands to the prefects
Hence Coldiretti’s requests: Increase inspections and stop origin fraud with innovative controls—magnetic resonance and isotopic mapping can clearly indicate where a product comes from. Always apply the law against unfair practices and sales below production costs. The blending of extra virgin olive oil and by-products must also be banned. From oil to wheat, the situation does not change. In recent hours, Coldiretti denounces, traders and industrialists are trying to buy durum wheat for 19 cents per kilo.
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