"We are not invaded by UFOs, but from wild boars yes! Farmers sow and cultivate and wild boars harvest. Where are we going to end up? The presence of wild boars is now a constant and their proliferation is uncontrolled ». It is lapidary Francis Cosentini, Director of Coldiretti Calabria who is forced again to intervene by denouncing and describing what is happening in the Calabrian countryside also on the basis of numerous reports that every day they come from all over the region. “Despite a greater presence of the selecontrollers that we had repeatedly asked the Region, in the countryside, but also in urban centers - continues Cosentini - people have to give way to wild boars.
For some time - he adds - we have asked the modification of LR n ° 9 of 17/5/1996 in order to reduce the wild population in agricultural areas, as has been done in other regions, but we note that there continues to be a legislative / administrative impasse that does not take into account that it is often useless to sow and that existing crops are severely damaged; this is also happening in vineyards and kiwi plants, where some plants are lost, as well as for summer and summer / autumn crops. We could see that even the fences that the farmers had built to defend themselves from the onslaught are not enough anymore! They are brought down by the hordes of the wild.
It is necessary to change the regional regulations that date back to twenty-five years ago and which were designed for the protection and protection of wildlife, in order to reconstitute the faunal heritage and which today evidently have proved no longer suitable. We are not asking - he continues - for the extermination of wild boars, but for a fair balance between those who have always lived in rural areas, who must have the opportunity to continue to work and produce food. Today this balance is totally lost. We ask that we be guaranteed the possibility of safeguarding the work of farmers, especially in this phase of health emergency in which food production plays a fundamental role. " In addition to the damage and dangers there is the mockery of the compensation due to farmers who, among other things, had to advance the expenses accompanying the file.
The Region and the ATCs have been urged several times to promptly settle the damages that also date back to 2018. "The resolution of the problem can no longer be postponed - concludes the president of Coldiretti Calabria Aceto - it is absolutely it is necessary to ensure the right protection of the work of those who earn their living in the countryside, the safety of people and the liveability of places. If we do not take note of this calamity and do not intervene, then let us not be surprised that there are more and more abandoned agricultural lands ”.