Ortofrutta Italia, the interprofessional body aimed at raising standards within, and awareness of, the Italian fresh produce sector, has made a number of high-profile appointments as it seeks to relaunch its defence of the country's fruit and vegetable trade in the face of falling prices and rising production costs.
For the first time, the organisation has a leader from the markets sector: Ottavio Guala, appointed last week, is also president of the Italian wholesale market federation Fedagro Mercati, which is linked to Confcommercio.
'The challenges we face need to be confronted with responsibility but also efficiency and speed,' said Mr Guala on accepting the presidential nomination.
The organisation brings together the leading associations and companies in the Italian fresh produce sector, with the aim of developing strategies for the industry through a network of product-focused committees.
In his role as president, Mr Guala will be responsible for setting the industry's overall strategy relating to the fresh fruit and vegetable production, processing and distribution, be it through retail, wholesale or export channels.
He will also help implement policies relating to sourcing, food safety, quality and consumer protection.
'We are calling on the various institutions to make the process of collaboration between different product categories more efficient in order to safeguard product quality and to ensure effective promotion of high-quality fruits and vegetables, using both public and private funding,' Mr Guala declared. 'My presidence is one which will certainly aim to achieve those objectives.'
Meanwhile, Antonio Schiavelli and Fabio Moschella have been named as vice-presidents of Ortofrutta Italia.
Both men are heavily involved in the production arena. Mr Moschella is coordinator of national farming body Cia's Sicilian Economic Interest Group, as well as president of the Syracuse Lemon Consortium.
Mr Schiavelli is the current president of the union of Italian producer organisations Unaproa, and managing director of Calabrian producer organisation Consorzio Sibarit.
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