There are already almost a thousand farmers and weeders who have left the rice fields of the main production regions, from Lombardy to Veneto, from Emilia to Piedmont, to demonstrate in Rome with placards, banners and sacks of rice. Speculations and deceptions that threaten Italy's primacy in Europe are under accusation, as stated in the banners "From rice to table the price increases by 5 times, enough speculation" but also "+346% rice imports from Vietnam, it's an invasion ”.
But at the center of the protest #SosRisoItaliano there are also conditions of labor exploitation, environmental pollution and the health risks of low-cost imported products from the East where pesticides that have been banned in Europe for decades are allowed. To combat unfair competition, farmers are asking that imported products be enforced by the same rules as national ones, which must be recognizable with a transparent origin labeling system. "Enough deception, immediately the label of origin of the rice" shouted the president of Coldiretti Roberto Moncalvo with a megaphone. "It takes 3 kilos of paddy rice to buy a cup of coffee" say the farmers who provocatively bartered for coffee and cappuccino in the bars surrounding the Ministry of Agricultural Policies where a sector meeting with the Minister of Agricultural Policies Maurizio Martina from which farmers await important news.
Before taking to the streets, the farmers led by Coldiretti published the results of their dossier on rice. In practice, they argue, today they have to see as many as three kilos of paddy rice to pay for a simple coffee "due to speculation and deception that affect national rice fields and harm consumers". The prices of Italian paddy rice since December - underlines the association - have suffered a collapse of 33,4% while "on supermarket shelves they have remained almost stable with damage for consumers and a loss for producers estimated at 115 million euros in the last year". In return, rice arrivals from Vietnam increased by 346%. and +34% from Thailand: never before has so much foreign rice arrived in Italy as in 2016, with a real invasion from the East from which almost half of the imports that reached the historical record of 244 million kilos. Under accusation is the introduction by the EU of the preferential tariff system with zero duty for countries operating under the EBA (Everything but Arms) regime, with milled rice imported into Europe without being subjected to duties which has gone from 35 % of 2008/2009 to 68% of 2015/2016, according to the analysis by Coldiretti. And the consequences on domestic prices were not long in coming.
According to the dossier, Italian rice is paid between 32 and 36 cents per kilo for Arborio and between 33 and 38 cents per kilo for Carnaroli, while the varieties arriving from Asia are paid at a price which is approximately half of what it costs to produce them in Italy in compliance with the rules on food and environmental safety and workers' rights.
“Italy – continues Coldiretti – is still the first European producer of rice a territory of 237 thousand hectares cultivated by 4263 companies, for a production of 1,58 billion kilos, with an irreplaceable environmental role and employment opportunities, but the situation is deteriorating and the work of over ten thousand families, including employees and entrepreneurs involved in the entire supply chain, is at risk.
“National production – says Coldiretti – would be more than enough to cover domestic consumption but they prefer to speculate on high-risk low-cost imports because it is possible to pass off foreign rice as Italian due to the lack of an adequate labeling system. Hence the request of the president of the association, Roberto Moncalvo: "It is necessary to make up for the accumulated delay and start the national procedure envisaged by the European Union in order to arrive as soon as possible at the obligation to indicate the origin, like what will happen for milk and derived from next April 19 and what is about to happen for wheat and pasta”.
