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The southern Italian region of Apulia is suffering from extreme drought. According to the daily newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno, the situation for agriculture is dramatic. Winegrowers and vegetable growers describe the situation as catastrophic and hopeless.
"I've never seen anything like it," Mario De Matteo, manager of the 200-hectare Il Vignale farm near Foggia, told Corriere del Mezzogiorno. "In a few days, we'll have to stop farming because the remaining water can only be used for human consumption." The situation is exacerbated by the poor quality of the water. It is often brackish and therefore unsuitable for irrigation. As far as immediate solutions are concerned, De Matteo replies: "Nothing can be done."
Despite modern irrigation systems such as drip irrigation and soil moisture sensors, the lack of rain and the drop in the groundwater table are thwarting technical efforts.
The water shortage is also affecting other regions in southern Italy. In the spring and summer of 2024, historically low rainfall was recorded in the south of the country. This led to significant losses in wheat, olive and grape production. As a result, the region of Sicily declared a state of natural disaster last April.
"The vines are suffering from the lack of water, especially in the provinces of Trapani and Palermo in the west of the island," says Mattia Filippi, oenologist and founder of the consulting firm Uva Sapiens. The extreme drought is partly due to the fact that it has already rained less than usual in Sicily over the past three years. If this continues, there is a risk that some areas will become completely desertified. The regional government must also intervene urgently. According to Filippi, there has been no investment in new reservoirs or the modernisation of existing water infrastructure in recent decades.
(ru / Gambero Rosso; own research)