Coldiretti Turin asks again that the Region and the Metropolitan City take concrete actions to reduce the number of wild boars, up to mobilize the army. For the trade association, the institutions must recognize the extreme urgency of solving the wild boar problem at the moment production costs for agriculture explode and while the danger of the spread of African Swine Fever must be stemmed. «Farmers are planning the sowing of corn with the specter of wild boars - remembers Sergio Barone, president of Coldiretti Turin -. They know that, once sown, they will not be able to rest assured that every seed, which the future plant should give, will be at risk of being eaten by wild boars.
The same will happen to the preparation of fields and meadows which will be compromised by the rooting of these animals. Let's imagine an artisan, industrial, commercial entrepreneur who invests and starts a process to then systematically see everything he made, everything he invested in, systematically destroyed. Here, the farmers are in this very condition, but they are not listened to ». Barone points out that for the agricultural year that is about to begin, the wild boar issue is added to the mad rush in the prices of raw materials, energy, fuels, equipment, packaging materials.
«The uncertainty about the harvest due to wild boars, which is now a sad custom, this year is joined by the serious crisis generated by the increase in prices. To give some examples, diesel fuel increased by 50%, fertilizers have shot up at stratospheric prices with urea going from 350 euros to 850 euros per ton (+ 143%). Not to mention the increase in costs for seeds, livestock feed, energy. Farmers are about to face a difficult year where it will not really be possible to deal with damage from wild boars as well". The situation is aggravated by the African Swine Fever which must be absolutely contained in the current red zone between Alessandrino and Liguria. For all this, Coldiretti Turin proposes extraordinary interventions.
«Coldiretti asked that they break down immediately 50 thousand wild boars throughout Piedmont - states and closes Sergio Barone -. It is evident that the interventions of the Metropolitan City staff and the selecontrollers are not sufficient for the share of the Turin area. We ask that hunters and ATCs do their part and that procedures are streamlined to allow authorized farmers to intervene in self-defense on their land. But at this point we also ask that consideration be given to the possibility of entering into an agreement with the army to achieve the goal of a truly drastic reduction in wild boars. In such an exceptional moment, exceptional measures are needed ».