Farmers in difficulty
“Weighing on the heads of thousands of agricultural companies in theOristano the ongoing climate crisis is no longer enough but, like every year, wildlife continues to give the final blow to crops: from horticulture to herbage, from vineyards to wheat and corn fields, passing through fodder crops and rice fields. Fields devastated by wild boars, deer and nutria, an alien species that has long adapted well in Sardinia, but also crops halved by the incursions of the hooded crow, a true terror for those hoping to complete fruit and vegetable ripening in the open field. A phenomenon that is now experiencing unsustainable conditions for farmers who often have to, with their work, involuntarily contribute to feeding thousands and thousands of wild animals." The alarm comes from Confagricoltura Oristano which complains of an increase in game especially in the Sinis territories. According to the agricultural organization in recent years, the average of agricultural surfaces damaged by various species of wildlife in the province of Oristano, with various percentages of intensity, stands at around 1100 hectares, of which just under 700 are attributable to wild boars alone.
First of all, monitoring
“Often – recalled the provincial president of Confagricoltura, Tonino Sanna – many of these animals arrive from sites set aside for wildlife protection. At night they come to feed in our fields and at dawn they take refuge again in protected areas, where hunting companies cannot enter. These places, over the years, are home to increasingly growing and now unsustainable populations of wildlife, to the point that trespassing into cultivated areas is no longer an exception." “Precisely to govern this phenomenon – continued President Sanna – we ask the Sardinia Region to intervene with monitoring and subsequent depopulation actions, as happens in the most advanced countries on the planet, in order to bring the numbers of different species back to conditions acceptable for the surrounding ecosystems: whether they are places affected by cultivation or whether they concern non-productive green areas".
Collaboration with hunters
“Depopulation could be carried out through collaboration with hunters and with the involvement, after training, of assistants available on site. The only compensations ensured by the Region, often late and never sufficient to cover the real damage suffered by farmers, are now completely insufficient to deal with the phenomenon and the budget deficit that weighs on companies", concluded Tonino Sanna (source: Confagricoltura ).