Davide Vernocchi (Apo Conerpo) on the kiwifruit situation in Italy
Apo Conerpo represents the largest organization of fruit and vegetable producers both in Italy and Europe with 1,100,000 tons of products, 7,000 partners, 45 cooperatives, 5,000 workers, 200 experts and a turnover of € 685 million.
FreshPlaza (FP): Mr Vernocchi, what is the importance of kiwifruit in Italy?
Davide Vernocchi (DV): As you know, kiwifruit sector plays an important role in our country. We deal with more than 24,000 hectares, 4,300 of them in Emilia-Romagna. We are the first producer country in the Northern hemisphere with 480,000 tons and a market value of €300 million. We export 370,000 tons and represent a third of the world market.
This crop has been rewarding for the last few years when most of fruit production has been affected by the economic crisis.
FP: Psa is certainly the most serious problem in the sector.
DV: Of course, this is a serious problem that is very worrying. First of all it mainly affects yellow-fleshed kiwifruit which represented a further source of income for farmers with pretty interesting average clearance prices.
Meetings between researchers and staff with their experiences are really positive because thanks to the research we can shorten the long-term treatment and containment solutions. For example the project promoted by the Emilia-Romagna region was supported not only by the Organization of producers, big regional groups of the production system but also by the institutions and the most important bank corporations because this cultivation is essential for the economy.
We are far from identifying a solution for Psa and we might learn to live with this disease, as we did with fire blight on pear trees, by taking precautionary measures. In Romagna the experts of our cooperatives together with the regional phytosanitary service were able to monitor, detect and uproot affected plants immediately. As far as prevention is concerned, it is important to single out tolerant and resistant varieties.
FP: What can you say about the possible creation of an interprofessional organization of Italian kiwifruit?
DV: The large organizations of producers and companies that market kiwifruit have met for a month in order to establish rules to control the kiwifruit supply even though there are a lot of regions involved such as Lazio, Piedmont, Veneto and Calabria. Anyway, we are working out a common strategy to start a dialogue with all the subjects involved.
FP: A closing line?
DV: Luckily, nobody talks about “kiwifruit plague” any more. This expression had a bad effect on consumers and was going to damage the product image. We always talk about Psa indicating the disease affects the plants but not the fruits so there is no risk for public health.