"Our role is to promote opportunities to enhance our citrus fruits, always acting in a systematic fashion. We have put our companies in contact with a colossus like Alibaba. Now, the floor is open to entrepreneurs". This is a summary of the interview given to FreshPlaza by Federica Argentati, president of the Citrus District of Sicily, during the fruit and vegetable fair.
"We promoted a meeting between the member companies that had already declared to be willing to export to China - continues Argentati - and the representative of the giant trade Alibaba Group, (Manfredi Minutelli - ed), with whom we have been in constant contact for about a year. This technical meeting clarified a few points and now awaits the operational decisions of the companies to start the export by air, recently made possible by the integration of Italy-China protocol".
It will now be necessary to focus on the costs, to position the product on the eastern market, with the awareness that a giant like Alibaba pushes to bring our oranges to China. We will consider the evident existence of a market segment increasingly willing to buy made in Italy products and Sicilian quality.
"We hope - adds the president - that after this briefing the path can be quickly started".
For Federica Argentati and the Citrus District of Sicily, the result of the mission at Fruit Logistica is excellent, especially for the feedback received during the presentation of the results of the project 'Social Farming 2.0. Social agriculture for the Sicilian citrus industry'. The entire Sicilian citrus sector also attracted a lot of attention, thanks to the institutions and even in the Italian Ambassador in Berlin, Luigi Mattiolo (in the picture below the feet to the right.), "who has Sicilian origins and is openly a fan of citrus islanders".
Berlin 2019 was also an opportunity to network and broaden the district base, with new proposals into the consortium company from realities of great importance in the supply chain, to consolidate contacts and relationships with representatives of other national and regional trade associations.
The "Social Farming 2.0" project, carried out in collaboration with Alta Scuola Arces and with the unconditional contribution of The Coca-Cola Foundation, is based on the logic of "making a system" from the point of view of social agriculture and the inclusion of those less advantaged in the labour market. The project was a success, with participation well beyond expectations: 1500 applications and registrations, 99 students who attended training courses, over 350 participants in training seminars and 18 applications to the call for ideas of innovative companies for the Sicilian citrus industry.