"The official data transmitted by ISZ (Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale) concerning the 2021/22 commercialization campaign in Sicily confirm the growth of Arancia di Ribera DOP with 10,700,000 kg," reports Giuseppe Pasciuta, president of Consorzio di Tutela Arancia di Ribera DOP.
Giuseppe Pasciuta
"This campaign too will be remembered as one of the most positive when it comes to both quantities and quality, making Arancia di Ribera DOP a leading certified product on a national level. Despite the damage caused by abundant rain in the fall, hail and the haulier strike, the year has been satisfactory."
"The whole sector has grown and quality was excellent from the point of view of both organoleptic qualities and appearance, with medium-large grades and a season that extended to late April."
"The Arancia di Ribera DOP chain represents the most dynamic and strategic segment of the entire production territory, which includes fourteen municipalities. This year too, we have seen an increase in the land and productions, with a subsequent increase in productivity. In addition, new young growers are cultivating oranges, new orange-processing facilities are being built, the number of operators and volumes sold online are increasing, and there are more PDO mark productions."
According to the Consortium, the proof of the importance of DOP Ribera lies in the increase of imitations and frauds detected by the control bodies. This is why supervisory bodies have been upgraded.
"Together with CNR Palermo and the University of Reggio Calabria, we have set up a research program for the genetic characterization of these oranges in order to safeguard them from imitations and fraud. We have achieved several goals thanks to our commitment to further improve the quality of our production. This is also testified by the growth of our operators and producers. Despite the many difficulties, the 'working as a system' policy continues thanks to associations. The territory, producers, operators and consortium are betting on Ribera oranges because they now represent one of the few productive and profitable investments."
Consorzio di Tutela Arancia di Ribera DOP is a partner of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture for the EAUSIRIS project, with the objective of dealing with the lack of water, rationalize its use and verify the state of the art of harvesting techniques in various Tunisian and Sicilian regions. With the Distretto Agrumi di Sicilia, the consortium is working on various projects that involve the territory directive including 'Vie della zagara ', ' A.C.Q.U.A. ' and 'Promozione delle produzioni DOP e IGP degli agrumi di Sicilia '.
And, while the consortium boasts excellent health, there is still a lot to be done to push the segment.
"One of our limitations is the lack of late varieties, which would help us reduce the produce coming in from North Africa and Spain starting from May, when the produce from Ribera has already finished. The quality of the different late varieties part of the Navel family, similar to Washington and Brazilian, would help us extend our calendar with a positive effect on the local socio-economic fabric. We are already modifying the specification for the introduction of early varieties. We are also thinking of upgrading the rootstock range with varieties more suitable for our area and the new phytosanitary emergencies."
"Another modification must be carried out to enable our partners to hand in second-category and organic produce to the processing industry as, up until now, only extra and first category produce could be destined to processing. This need has emerged from requests by processing operators, who are requiring more and more produce and to whom we destine 20-30% of our prestigious productions! Using second category oranges would mean using produce that is still excellent despite a few aesthetic imperfections while granting more profits to producers."
For further information:
Consorzio di Tutela Arancia
di Ribera DOP
Via Quasimodo s.n.
92016 Ribera (AG) – Italy
info@aranciadiriberadop.it
www.aranciadiriberadop.it