After the recent floods in Sicily over the past few days and the subsequent damage assessment, the loss has been quantified to be 10% less produce. The hardest hit fields were the low-lying areas and the ones closest to water streams. The rest of the crops remained unaffected. The showers in the area brought 400mm of rainwater in 48 hours - a significant amount but all in all acceptable in the unit of time. Therefore, this was not a so-called water bomb; if anything, the disasters can be blamed on land degradation.
To further clarify the situation is Massimo Pavan, president of the Consorzio di Tutela della Carota Novella di Ispica Igp, who asserted that “there is a good production of the branded product."
Massimo Pavan and Carmelo Calabrese, president and vice president of the Consorzio Carota Novella di Ispica Igp, in a photo taken at Fruit Logistica (edition.2023) in Berlin
"We have already started harvesting the Igp product in some plots," says Pavan, "and in the coming weeks we will go into full swing, in line with the time of the year. This season we've been noticing good demand for our Protected Geographical Indication carrot, thanks to a shortage of foreign product. Spain and Portugal are lagging far behind, due to intense heat at planting time, and will arrive with a delay that, for us, is strategic during sales. Northern and central Italy are also, moreover, wrapping up their production, which will not arrive beyond mid-March, leaving us additional space in the markets. The demand from the large-scale retail trade, therefore, is particularly strong."
"However, we are also seeing a production gap, due to -20 percent of sowings and, as mentioned above, an additional -10 percent due to losses from bad weather.
Luckily, it can’t be compared with the annus horribilis of 2022," remarks the expert.
"Our Carota Novella di Ispica Igp is increasingly gaining ground on national and international markets," explains Pavan, "thanks to its distinct organoleptic characteristics. Consumers are showing that they appreciate it, by looking for it on the shelves. Last year we reached a volume of 4,000 tons of certified product, but in the present 2023 we are certain that we will abundantly exceed this quantity, thanks to the favorable moment in the European production scenario, but above all, thanks to the fact that, in line with the specification, we have been in full production since the beginning of February."
"One of the recent news is the update of the specification itself," concluded Pavan, "which now provides for the use of the second choice of the branded product for the processing industry and the implementation of new carrot varieties, in order to improve the production performance of the sector.
For more information:
Massimo Pavan
Consorzio di Tutela
Carota Novella di Ispica Igp
Via B. Spadaro, 97
97014 Ispica (RG) Italy
info@carotanovellaigp.it
www.carotanovellaigp.it