La risicoltura italiana oltre la PAC: nuove opportunità e possibili strategie

Rice is the staple food of more than half of the world population and its availability is crucial to food security in a context of continuous demographic growth. Rice production also represents a fundamental economic activity: more than 110 countries are involved, generating a global paddy production of 759.6 million tonnes and an estimated international exchange of about 24.5 billion dollars. Likewise, rice production is strictly linked to social and environmental sustainability, as it is based on a complex ecological system, which has crucial influence on climate, biodiversity and landscape challenges. Despite of its worldwide nature, rice market is highly concentrated. Italy has a key role since rice fields in the Po valley cover half of total EU28 production. Thanks to the agricultural self-sufficiency policy, Italian rice sector grew rapidly after the Second World War, highlighting the competitiveness of national producers and varieties. Nevertheless, in recent decades, the sector is wobbeling under the pressure of internal structural problems, combined with a global economic downturn and a critical evolution of the international commerce. A partial reduction of the number of farms as well as of the extension of cultivations, frequent price fluctuations and the fall of revenues, emphasise the presence of serious weaknesses and threats. In such a context, the revision of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is considered to be the main responsible of this crisis. Nevertheless, a critical overview underlines that it is only one of multiple interacting factors influencing rice market development, whereas lacks in business strategies and entrepreneurial culture determine a poor performance in this sector, at large. Moreover, CAP not only creates obstacles and limits to farmers’ activity, but also support innovative strategies for the renewal of this sector.