(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 07 - Pests and plant diseases cause up to 40% of losses in agricultural crops, responsible for yet another worsening of hunger in the world, with enormous economic damage and famine.
From the desert locust to the fruit flies, but also, entering the Italian borders, from the Xylella to the Asian bug to that of the Pinolo.
This is the reality that has led to the celebration of the first annual International Plant Health Day on 12 May.
This is decided by the FAO, collecting the legacy of the 2020-2021 International Year dedicated to this theme.
Globalization, trade and climate change, as well as the reduced resilience of production systems due to decades of intensification of agriculture, according to the FAO, are among the factors that have led to this situation.
Several alien species that have attacked Italian plants, reminds ANSA Pio Federico Roversi, director of Crea Difesa eCertificazione.
If the Asian bug in 2019 alone caused losses to Italian fruit growing for over 600 million euros, those for Xylella fastidiosa have now exceeded 1.5 billion.
Other diseases have caused less significant damage in absolute terms but important because they have affected dinicchia products, such as Leptoglossus occidentalis, the Pinolian Bug has practically canceled the production for the national industrialist.
(HANDLE).
