Italy: Niche product should remain so

For the past six years, Desiré, a cooperative located in the Ragusa province, has been focusing on the production of basil 12 months a year. It is a niche product, very delicate to manage, which usually comes from abroad. And company managers feel it should remain as such: "when a speciality becomes a mass product, the lowest price is all that matters."

Basil

Despite continuing to grow other unique products - date tomatoes and friggitello peppers - the company is now focusing on basil, which is very popular abroad too, especially in England and Switzerland, where many clients used to purchase it from Israel.

Date tomatoes and friggitello peppers

"Sicilian basil is unique. With its 100,000 sq m of greenhouses, Desiré supplies Albenga as well as many Italian and foreign platforms which then repackage the produce for retail. Our basil has everything you need - the perfect combination of flavour, aroma, quality, certifications (GlobalGAP, Grasp) and freshness!" Basil is packaged in 30 gram trays.

Other vegetable products are sweet Friggitello peppers, packaged in 500 gram punnets and date tomatoes, packaged in 250 gram punnets. The tomatoes are available throughout the year. "Peppers could be too if there was enough demand. At the moment, we commercialise them between November and June."

Contacts:
Societa Cooperativa Agricola Desiré
Mob.: (+39) 392 7068067
Email: tab.rosario@live.it