Cia, 3 moves to relaunch table grapes, worth 1 billion

(ANSA) - ROME, OCTOBER 22 - Varietal innovation, more aggregation and new relationships with third countries to support the Italian table grape, which is worth 1 billion.

This is the strategy to relaunch the Made in Italy sector proposed by Cia-Agricoltori Italiani, in a document sent to the Minister of Agricultural Policies, Teresa Bellanova, to the Undersecretary of Giuseppe L'Abbate, to the presidents of the Agricultural Commissions of the Chamber and Senate and to the regional councilors.

The objective is to reduce competitiveness to a sector that exports for as much as 600 million euros, but which suffers from structural weaknesses and negative climatic situations.

With about 1 million tons per year on an area of ​​46 thousand hectares, Italy is the main European producer of table grapes, but today the offer is focused on historical varieties, with still limited quantities of seedless grapes, less than 35% of the tricolor production, today the most popular by markets.

Hence the need to focus on varied innovation suited to the Mediterranean environment and climate changes, with public-private research programs, renewal plans also in terms of sustainability and digitalization.

To weaken the supply chain, Cia points out, is also the poor aggregation in Op (Producer Organizations), whose marketed production value does not exceed 30% of the total.

The third pillar of the CIA's relaunch strategy are relations with third countries, starting with the revision of lateral agreements, which must be relaunched to preserve the competitiveness of EU producers.

This, the CIA points out, with particular reference to the EU-Egypt agreement, where it is necessary to introduce quantitative limits for imports under favorable conditions.

Last but not least, the need for a strengthening of exports, with the opening to new destinations, primarily China and the whole Asian market.

(HANDLE).