Brussels – “We reiterated the need to intervene with emergency measures to protect the income of our farmers and ranchers. The market data are clear, and the decline in prices worries us. So we asked the Commission for new concrete initiatives. For the fruit and vegetable sector, we highlighted the urgent need to support tomato growers; and indicated two priorities: increases in differentiated withdrawal price by product types, and the activation of the safeguard clause foreseen in the bilateral treaties with countries in North Africa”, commented the Italian Minister of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies Maurizio Martina, who attended yesterday the Council of the Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the European Union. One of the main themes of the meeting was the management of market crises, with particular focus on the dairy, and fruit and vegetable sectors. “Regarding dairy – continued Minister Martina – we must do more, strengthening first response with further measures to help counter falling prices. We expect news in the coming days with an increase of shares available to Italy for the private storage of cheese.” (9Colonne)
