Threat to Italian kiwifruit production

The Italian organization Confagricoltura calls for joint and synergistic initiatives between the state and all the regions concerned and, in terms of research, between all the main scientific institutes in the country.

 

 

 

Italian kiwi production is threatened by an invisible and difficult-to-fight enemy. For several years this disease called 'morìa del kiwi' has been affecting the root system for unknown reasons. The disease is spreading and is now hitting the heart of the main production area, the nearly 10,000-hectare Agro Pontino.

 

 

 

According to Confagricoltura, the disease in the Verona region affected 1,800 hectares out of the 2,500 hectares dedicated to this crop. In the Friuli Venezia Giuliale region, where the area cultivated in 2020 is just over 500 hectares, the disease would affect about 10%. Crops were also affected in the regions of Lombardy, Mantovano, and marginally in Emilia Romagna and Calabria. In the Lazio region, the first cases were discovered 3 years ago, but today there is a resurgence of the disease in the Agro Pontino which, according to estimates, affects almost 2,000 hectares, or 20% of plantations .

 

 

 

The growing spread of the disease will have a significant impact on domestic production, Confagricoltura stressed.

 

 

 

Various hypotheses have been made about the origin of the disease and its possible causes. The results obtained to date, however, do not identify a determining factor that leads to plant deterioration; on the contrary, a number of causes appear to be contributing to it, presumably exacerbated by the effects of climate change.

 

 

 

Confagricoltura calls for joint and synergistic initiatives between the state and all the regions concerned and, in terms of research, between all the main scientific institutes in the country.