The drought that besieges the countryside pushes the 2,3 million wild boars in the cities and even on the beaches where they attack swimmers, hunting for food among the waste, aggravating their management problems, after having cleared away what remains of the crops and forced the farmers to kill thousands of pigs due to the risk of swine fever. The lack of rain, with rainfall halved in 2022, and the record heat caused crops to dry up and streams to dry, bringing herds more and more towards urban centers and coasts in search of food and water.
Moreover, the low levels of the rivers allow animals to cross them more easily, increasing their chances of moving from one territory to another, so much so that wild boars are able to travel up to 40 kilometers at a time. The alarm was raised by Coldiretti on the occasion of the first alliance between the agricultural world and the world of hunting and wildlife management signed in Rome, with the birth ofBiodiversitalia Agricultural Association (AB) signed today, Wednesday 13 July 2022 in Rome, at Palazzo Rospigliosi, by the president of the Coldiretti Ettore Prandini and the president of the National Hunting and Nature Committee (CNCNMaurizio Zipponi.
After the introduction by Coldiretti's general secretary, Vincent Gesmundo, who spoke of a "historic day", the word is passed to Niccolo Sacchetti, number one of Coldiretti Rome, who underlined how finally there are under the same hat agriculture and hunting, all in the name of sustainability. The goal is to bring together more careful wildlife management and quality agriculture.
The Undersecretary of Agriculture Francesco Battistoni he recalled instead how such a combination was useful as never before in this very particular historical phase. For the moment, however, there is no interlocutor at the government level, since we must always refer to the delegations entrusted to the Environment.
The president of the CNCN, Maurice Zipponi, explained why the association joined. In particular, Coldiretti offers a European vision for what concerns the management of the territory, which is lacking in other bodies. The agricultural association's vision of reserves has led to a natural encounter, with the addition of partners who know how to do their job very well.
"In the last few years 800 thousand hectares of fertile land have been abandoned in many cases precisely due to the proliferation of wildlife that damages crops and the profitability of farmers, land that today, in addition to being no longer productive, is exposed to erosion and hydrogeological instability.”Declared the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini underlining that with the new association we want to support an idea of an equipped countryside, able to offer services to people, through the management of common goods.
The Caccia Passione editorial team had the opportunity to exchange some opinions with the protagonists of the day. TO Niccolo Sacchetti it was asked whether, on a communicative level, it is still difficult to make the positive figure of a hunter not mistreated prevail. The president of Coldiretti Rome replied: "Unfortunately in Italy we are influenced by the wrong behavior of someone at a hunting level, but there are hunters who do many good things and their work should be communicated even better. It will not be an easy path to think in a different way on the figure of the hunter, but currently there are facts that must open our eyes, starting from the wild boars in the city to the abandoned pastures.".
The Environment Director of Coldiretti, Stefano Masini, discussed with us the question of skepticism on the project by other hunting associations: "The project is ambitious and it took a day like this to make it clear that finally farmers and hunters go hand in hand. The fact that there are other associations that do not agree does not detract from our initiative, we must continue along this path".