Droughts continue to affect Italian agriculture, and that of Sicily in particular. Here, fruit and vegetable crops have been heavily affected, even specialized greenhouse production in the overall context. With the salinization of aquifers, the most valuable horticultural crops risk losing their potential. And while the public administration struggles to remedy a difficult situation with the functional restoration of obsolete reservoirs and pipelines damaged by neglect, private entities are beginning to get organized in a structured manner. One example is Consorzio del Pomodoro di Pachino IGP, which is the first in Italy to obtain the 'Goccia Verde' certification for sustainability in the use of water resources.
Sebastiano Fortunato
A nine-criteria certification
It constitutes a concrete commitment to innovation, sustainable development and the qualitative and quantitative protection of water, with a certification process that requires compliance with nine specific criteria. These range from the reduction of energy impact to proactive actions to improve the agro-ecosystem, from the protection of biodiversity to training actions and the role of 'facilitator' for the application of new technologies.
Certification involves the monitoring and fulfillment of no less than 54 verifiable and measurable indicators, and compliance with the prescribed procedures can lead to quantifiable water savings, depending on the initial situation, of between 10 and 30%.
"Our Consortium is the first to obtain this important certification," said the association's president, Sebastiano Fortunato. "An uncoordinated management of water resources leads to moments of crisis, both qualitative and quantitative, like the one we have been experiencing over the past three months. The Consortium can play an important role in protecting the product, through the involvement of its members in actions to support the mitigation of water consumption."
"We are currently observing a significant alteration in salinity levels due to the water shortage which, if it were to continue or even increase, could irreparably compromise the particular organoleptic characteristics of our tomatoes. Moreover, the peculiarities of Pachino PGI tomatoes are linked precisely to the brackish waters of the area where they are produced. However, an excessive increase in salinity would make it almost impossible to continue production, with the consequent collapse of the economy linked to the sector, an industry that provides a living for several thousand families."
All this can only be avoided through a coordinated action of water quality monitoring and the use of information that are already in the hands of producers, but which are of little use if not aggregated and analysed over the entire reference territory.
"This is the first step required by the certification in the path towards the compulsory drafting of a Drought Management Plan, in which the criteria and good practices to be implemented to combat the phenomenon or to manage highly critical situations will be indicated. In parallel, training and innovation promotion actions will be able to support the sector's companies in the transition towards cultivation and irrigation techniques suited to the most problematic situations. It is particularly significant that the first Goccia Verde certification was granted in Sicily, a region dramatically affected by this year's drought: it is an important signal to look responsibly towards the future," says Francesco Vincenzi, president of ANBI (National Association of Consortia for the Management and Protection of the Territory and Irrigated Waters), the body that issues the Goccia Verde certificate.
For more information:
Sebastiano Fortunato
Consorzio di Tutela Pomodoro di Pachino Igp 
Via Milano, 2
96018 Pachino (SR)
+39 0931 595106
[email protected]
www.igppachino.it