A herd of wild boars destroys three hectares of excellent quality organic soft wheat. Each hectare, 40 quintals of cereal, for a total damage of about 3400 euros. A value that, unfortunately, must be multiplied by 20, as many as there are Gargano companies which, in recent weeks, have seen part of their fields destroyed. The ATC, the Territorial Hunting Area, only recognizes a flat-rate reimbursement of 700 euros, regardless of the size of the damage suffered by the individual producer. For this reason this morning, in Monte Sant'Angelo, breeders and farmers from all over Puglia and the Gargano associated with CIA Italian Farmers of Puglia have gathered to protest and ask that, finally, the boar issue be addressed by the competent bodies, starting with the Puglia Region. “A few things are needed but clear and definitive”, declared Leonardo Santucci, breeder and CIA Puglia member.
“We need to reduce the number of wild boars that they run around in the countryside and activate mechanisms that contain its proliferation also for the future; the compensation must be full, that is to say commensurate with the actual entity of the damages (amendment to law 157/92); the Puglia Region and the competent territorial bodies must be equipped to monitor the development and movements of wild boars, with specific studies and research". “The wild boar issue concerns all of Italy and the whole of Puglia. In Capitanata, as well as from the Murgia Barese to the Bat and in the territories of Taranto and Brindisi in 2020, the cases, reports and the damage has multiplied: with the pandemic, in fact, wild boars have expanded their range of action also arriving on the coast as well as raging in the rural areas located in the Apulian hinterland ", declared Michele Ferrandino, president of CIA captained.
"The heat, the need to stock up on water and food pushes them to cross fast roads, with the consequent dangers, and country paths", added the provincial director of the organization, Nicola Cantatore. Two million ungulates in circulation in Italy, over 200 million in damage to farmers, 469 accidents caused on the roads, some of them deadly. In 2020, claims for damage from wildlife in the territory of the Gargano National Park alone increased by 200%. Agricultural and agro-zootechnical companies have submitted claims for compensation for a total amount of about 300 thousand euros. "The owners and tenants of agricultural land have the right to full compensation for the loss actually suffered ”, added Michele Ferrandino, provincial president of CIA Capitanata. "Compensation for damage caused by wildlife cannot fall within the scope of the European Union regulations on state aid and must be removed from the de minimis regime".
The last census revealed the presence of about 3700 specimens in the Alta Murgia area. The de minimis problem must be overcome, furthermore, it is necessary to establish a regional task force as requested by the coordination of the agricultural trade organizations and the Alta Murgia Park for univocal intervention actions, with the killing of the animals through selective control and implementation of the wild boar supply chain in Puglia, also to ensure animal welfare. CIA Agricoltori Italiani, starting from 2018, has mobilized with national and regional initiatives to request the amendment of law 157 and to address the problem of wildlife as a whole. A trade union action that led to resolution, the first organic and structural, approved in the Senate, the result of a battle that CIA Agricoltori Italiani has been carrying out for years.
"The resolution approved in the Senate is a starting point," said Raffaele Carrabba, president of Cia Puglia. “It is necessary for the government to take the situation in hand, activating coordinated action between ministries, regions, provinces and organizations. We need an intervention plan for the truly sustainable coexistence between agricultural activities, environmental and animal protection, biodiversity. In this, an important role also belongs to the European Union ”.