According to data from Veneto Agricoltura and University of Padova in 2005, 50% of the 3,000 national hectares destined to fresh-cut products was for wild rocket followed by baby leaf, lambs’ lettuce and other products such as spinach and Swiss chard.
In Veneto, in 2005, rocket's cultivated area amounted 120 hectares (total destined to fresh-cut products was 400 hectares); in Lombardy it was 60 hectares and 36 hectares in Friuli–Venezia Giulia.
In Campania, main Italian producing area, the total areal was about 1,800 hectares of greenhouses, mainly devoted to wild rocket (1,120 ha). Only 5 hectares were destined to cultivated rocket.
In Apulia 50 hectares of wild rocket were recorded, most of them (40 ha) in open field; in Basilicata rocket's area in greenhouses was about 7 hectares.
Currently, there are more than 3,600 hectares of rocket in protected cultivation all over Italy. 2,300 hectares are in the province of Salerno. However this data is undervalued because there are a acres here and there all over the country.
Moreover, cultivation cycles are quite fast so there might be 4-6 annual cycles including those plants that have more ranges. In this way surfaces have to be multiplied by 4 or 5 times in order to evaluate the real production power of this section.
Rocket production can reach 10,000-15,000 kg/ha of Eruca and 10,000 kg/ha of Diplotaxis.
Rocket, differently from baby leaves that are only used in the fresh-cut sector, can be traded as fresh product, loose or in bags.
As far as foreign markets are concerned, demand comes from Germany and UK, the most exigent countries in terms of quality and controls. Other areas that are showing interest in this product are those in the Middle East, South Africa, America and East European countries. Another market interested in the rocket is Japan, a country that is always open to new and 'made in Italy' products.
The market value of rocket destined to fresh-cut sector is estimated in about 30-40 million Euro only for export. It is necessary to add the value of domestic fresh-cut segment.
Research
Rocket seeds are easy to reproduce so companies did not invest much in breeding for baby leaf products and in particular for rocket.
Big fresh-cut companies invested huge capital in plants and equipment but they do not recognize the high value of seeds that can make the difference. Seeds with a good quality and an excellent germination can save about 50% of the used amounts in a plant allowing an excellent density and an homogeneous growth.
The seed
The National market consists of about 30 tons and of more than 20 million of multi-seed pills used for winter transplanting. Multi-seed pills contain several seeds, they can be directly sown in cube during nursery phase. A cube can contain from 25 to 40 seeds of rocket. After seed germination, the farmer can transplant directly in the soil the cubes with rocket seedlings. Generally, the seed density is 4-5 kg of seeds per hectare. By using this seed technique three sowings per year are possible and the harvesting is made easier.
The table shows data on total cultivated surface for vegetable seed production (Source: Assosementi, production period 2010). Next September, Assosementi will disseminate the data updated to 2012. Click here to enlarge the table.
Seed production can reach 1,5 tons/ha for Eruca sativa and 0,5 tons/ha for Diplotaxis tenuifolia. The value of seed market is about 1.2 Millions €.
For this article, we thank for their collaboration: Pietro Santamaria (University of Bari), Andrea Ghedina (T&T Vegetable Seeds), Marcello Fioravanti and Alberto Veronesi (Enza Zaden), Alberto Lipparini (Assosementi).