The consortium responsible for promoting PGI-certified tomatoes from the Sicilian town of Pachino has raised concerns over what it says are “very low” prices being paid to producers as the Italian island’s traditional marketing season gets into full swing.
Prices for premium Sicilian tomatoes are reportedly around €0.80-€0.90 per kilo at present, and even lower for conventional product.
Speaking to the Siracusa Times, consortium director Salvatore Chiaramida said that the situation was being aggravated by an apparently increasing volume of non-EU product arriving in the EU at “ridiculous prices”.
“We must press on and not give up, even if we were under the impression that Agriculture Minister [Maurizio] Martina was in touch with our producers about their current problems when he described Pachino as an ‘exemplary national powerhouse’,” he told the newspaper.
In fact, Chiaramida and the consortium’s president Sebastiano Fortunato recently took part in crisis meetings with Martina and one of his predecessors, the Italian MEP Paolo De Castro, in order to identify possible solutions.
Besides continuing with their efforts to promote Pachino tomatoes and add value, they said they did not see much else that could be done without governmental support.
“The truth is,” commented Fortunato, “when the government really takes an interest in the sector’s problems, there will be results.”
He added: “I’m referring to the approval of the famous Article 62 on the regulation of trade relations for sales of agricultural products.
“Today, once again, we need urgent and concrete action to pull our greenhouse crops back from the brink.”
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