In much of the Puglia the olive growers would sign up to obtain 50% of what was harvested last year, aware on the one hand that, in the logic of alternation, a year of tenure is followed by a year of discharge, and on the other because last campaign was really generous for this region, reaching peaks in many areas that had not been remembered for a long time.
And yet the trend of drought and high temperatures is creating legitimate concerns. The interpreter is there Coldiretti Puglia which has already taken action to request a state of emergency and declaration of disaster. The request is worthy of attention, as is the curious fact that none of the sister regions in the other regions had such attention last year in the face of practically zero production.
“Deep red production”
“Due to the drought, the olives are wilting in the dry land where emergency irrigation is insufficient to guarantee proper growth, with an estimate of deep red production, more than halved due to the heat of the last few months and the lack of rain , but the effects on oil production are also of concern" highlights Coldiretti Puglia following technical checks in campaigns, “where the scenario is getting increasingly worse with the olive trees in water stress due to the lack of water and the beating sun that gives no respite to the fruit on the trees”.
“The drought and high temperatures have persisted for months – underlines the association – so much so that already in the last days of April and until the first ten days of May, high temperatures were recorded with peaks above 30°C, an anomalous and unseasonal heat which immediately worried the olive growers, because it was unfavorable to the physiological pinking of the olive tree . In fact, the month of May sees the flowering of the olive tree which this year, despite the prolific production recorded during the last oil campaign, seemed to be satisfactory almost everywhere. But the good expectations were then betrayed by a progressive abortion of the flowers due to the excessive and lasting heat. The current scenario shows a 50% decline in rooting compared to last year, a projection which has undergone a constant worsening due to the drought which in the most serious cases can cause the progressive necrosis of olives in non-irrigated land".
State of emergency
There is now a state of emergency in Puglia - insists the regional Coldiretti - caught in the grip of the serious and emergency drought, with the artificial reservoirs recording, due to the lack of rain for months, a drastic drop of 164,59 million cubic meters of water, 57% less than last year
The heat and drought alarm becomes more serious in 2024 with a summer that began torrid after the hottest June ever, when according to new data from Isac Cnr the first five months of the year are at the top of the ranking of the hottest , with over a degree and a half higher than the average from 1800 to today, an anomaly of +1,67° in the South. A trend that puts 2024 in the top ten of the hottest years in the last two centuries which is concentrated in last decade and includes in order 2023, 2022, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2019 and 2020, according to Coldiretti calculations.
