Berliner Boersenzeitung - Drought in Sicily threatens grain fields, animal herds

EUR -
AED 4.09901
AFN 76.989056
ALL 99.290141
AMD 432.192289
ANG 2.011913
AOA 1035.386702
ARS 1074.098225
AUD 1.639961
AWG 2.008793
AZN 1.901624
BAM 1.956573
BBD 2.253991
BDT 133.402737
BGN 1.953965
BHD 0.420623
BIF 3236.121309
BMD 1.115996
BND 1.44247
BOB 7.713911
BRL 6.15305
BSD 1.116341
BTN 93.301912
BWP 14.756966
BYN 3.653344
BYR 21873.525049
BZD 2.250149
CAD 1.514028
CDF 3204.025425
CHF 0.949606
CLF 0.03764
CLP 1038.602283
CNY 7.869898
CNH 7.861953
COP 4633.616123
CRC 579.218597
CUC 1.115996
CUP 29.573899
CVE 110.307124
CZK 25.054454
DJF 198.335279
DKK 7.459212
DOP 67.006489
DZD 147.641875
EGP 54.135082
ERN 16.739943
ETB 129.539788
FJD 2.455531
FKP 0.849897
GBP 0.83852
GEL 3.047105
GGP 0.849897
GHS 17.549623
GIP 0.849897
GMD 76.450036
GNF 9644.683106
GTQ 8.629489
GYD 233.528133
HKD 8.695151
HNL 27.691947
HRK 7.58767
HTG 147.295589
HUF 393.020806
IDR 16929.717789
ILS 4.225859
IMP 0.849897
INR 93.170894
IQD 1462.378108
IRR 46975.073296
ISK 152.114535
JEP 0.849897
JMD 175.389335
JOD 0.790799
JPY 160.589064
KES 144.008576
KGS 94.009848
KHR 4533.7923
KMF 492.545341
KPW 1004.395926
KRW 1488.07353
KWD 0.340469
KYD 0.930276
KZT 535.211989
LAK 24650.303003
LBP 99966.527279
LKR 340.594644
LRD 223.26426
LSL 19.597823
LTL 3.295247
LVL 0.675055
LYD 5.301286
MAD 10.824867
MDL 19.479875
MGA 5048.905452
MKD 61.626661
MMK 3624.712047
MNT 3792.154956
MOP 8.960782
MRU 44.363935
MUR 51.202327
MVR 17.142123
MWK 1935.530467
MXN 21.676597
MYR 4.692807
MZN 71.256777
NAD 19.597647
NGN 1829.620351
NIO 41.08569
NOK 11.718262
NPR 149.286016
NZD 1.789531
OMR 0.429634
PAB 1.116321
PEN 4.184198
PGK 4.369884
PHP 62.08849
PKR 310.175419
PLN 4.270192
PYG 8709.44302
QAR 4.069909
RON 4.973218
RSD 117.079418
RUB 103.062741
RWF 1504.908406
SAR 4.187915
SBD 9.27051
SCR 14.830813
SDG 671.275802
SEK 11.359865
SGD 1.44083
SHP 0.849897
SLE 25.497503
SLL 23401.876073
SOS 637.957914
SRD 33.708707
STD 23098.867655
SVC 9.76773
SYP 2803.973801
SZL 19.604926
THB 36.761326
TJS 11.866478
TMT 3.905987
TND 3.382537
TOP 2.613779
TRY 38.072924
TTD 7.592866
TWD 35.712252
TZS 3042.431049
UAH 46.142795
UGX 4135.783196
USD 1.115996
UYU 46.127615
UZS 14205.615769
VEF 4042754.77568
VES 41.018985
VND 27459.08591
VUV 132.493308
WST 3.121958
XAF 656.204651
XAG 0.035869
XAU 0.000426
XCD 3.016036
XDR 0.827327
XOF 656.207592
XPF 119.331742
YER 279.361784
ZAR 19.504527
ZMK 10045.308782
ZMW 29.554154
ZWL 359.350313
  • RBGPF

    3.5000

    60.5

    +5.79%

  • RYCEF

    0.0000

    6.95

    0%

  • NGG

    0.7200

    69.55

    +1.04%

  • RIO

    -1.6100

    63.57

    -2.53%

  • SCS

    -0.3900

    12.92

    -3.02%

  • GSK

    -0.8200

    40.8

    -2.01%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    25.15

    +0.12%

  • CMSD

    0.0100

    25.02

    +0.04%

  • RELX

    -0.1400

    47.99

    -0.29%

  • BTI

    -0.1300

    37.44

    -0.35%

  • AZN

    -0.5200

    78.38

    -0.66%

  • BCC

    -7.1900

    137.5

    -5.23%

  • JRI

    -0.0800

    13.32

    -0.6%

  • VOD

    -0.0500

    10.01

    -0.5%

  • BP

    -0.1200

    32.64

    -0.37%

  • BCE

    -0.1500

    35.04

    -0.43%

Drought in Sicily threatens grain fields, animal herds
Drought in Sicily threatens grain fields, animal herds / Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI - AFP/File

Drought in Sicily threatens grain fields, animal herds

A crushing drought in Sicily has withered fields of grain, deprived livestock of pasture land and fanned a spate of wildfires, causing damage already estimated at 2.7 billion euros this year.

Text size:

In an attempt to mitigate the effects of the water crisis, the Italian government in early May declared a state of emergency for the southern island, unblocking funds to purchase water tanker trucks, drill wells and renovate pumping and desalination stations.

But ensuing months of continued high temperatures have done nothing to ameliorate the already dire conditions, with farmers giving up on their harvests and now wondering how they'll feed and water their animals.

"There's no hope, because it hasn't rained since May of last year," said Salvatore Michele Amico, a farmer near the town of San Cataldo in Sicily's dry interior.

"All the planted fields have been lost: there is no wheat, no barley, no oats," Amico told AFP.

The land in these parts, deprived of vegetation, is bare and cracked. Rivers, ponds and watering holes are dried up and farming equipment sits idle on formerly productive land, as cows wander in search of a blade of grass.

Once the breadbasket of ancient Rome, Sicily is expected this year to see its wheat harvest collapse by more than 50 percent, according to agricultural lobby Coldiretti.

"It didn't rain this year, so we haven't harvested anything and we can't feed or water the animals," noted another nearby farmer, Beppe Palmieri, whose land formerly supported cattle and goats as well as fields of grain and feed.

Whereas efforts are being made to bring in feed from the outside, the water situation is "critical", Palmieri said.

"There is no water for the animals to drink, we don't know what to do. We have issues with accessibility, certain types of tankers can't come up and provide water to the animals," he said.

- 5,800 hectares burned -

Farmer Fabio Scarantino stands in front of his herd of cattle. Their light brown hides match the dry, dusty landscape behind them.

"Climate change in Sicily is real. In the past we talked about it but we could never have imagined experiencing it first hand," Scarantino said.

Unlike Sicily's coasts, which rely largely on tourism, "in the Sicilian hinterland, which depends on livestock and agriculture, climate change plays a considerable role," he said.

Families who have been farming for generations are left without prospects for the future, including cattle breeders who for decades have built up their animals' bloodlines, said Massimo Primavera, the Coldiretti director for the area around Caltanissetta, a town of 250,000 inhabitants in the centre of Sicily.

Besides the threat to livestock and fields of grain, the drought also impacts fruit trees, vineyards and olive groves to the total tune of more than 2.7 billion euros ($2.9 billion), Coldiretti says.

Meanwhile, 5,800 hectares (14,000 acres) of agricultural land have gone up in flames since the beginning of July due to wildfires that erupt with the dry conditions, said the group.

Exacerbating the effects of the drought is a lack of investment in infrastructure "to prevent water from being wasted," Coldiretti said.

According to Italy's National Institute of Statistics (Istat), Sicily has one of the country's highest rates of wasted drinking water, with 51.6 percent of water lost from distribution circuits in 2022.

Istat, which says that every day in Italy 157 litres per person are lost, blames the waste on "the persistent state of inefficiency of many distribution networks".

(H.Schneide--BBZ)