Here enclosed my contribution to the consultation.
Best regards.
Dr. Massimo Iannetta
“Biotechnologies and Agroindustry”- Division Head
Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Via Anguillarese, 301 - 00123 S.M. di Galeria (RM)
- What are the main challenges that farmers in your country face with regard to the production of pulses? How should these be addressed?
The main challenge faced by Italian farmers with regard to the production of pulses is posed by the low income level that they can achieve from leguminous crops. Their productivity is generally quite low and, with few exceptions, the price does not compensate the yield gap respect to cereals or other more profitable field crops. In spite of their many positive features, including high nutritional quality and atmospheric nitrogen fixation, many farmers are reluctant to include leguminous crops in the rotations of their farms. To address this problem we can either raise the pulse price or to increase their productivity. For the first approach geographic origin protection and other strategies to add value to local productions can offer good opportunities. For example, lentils of certified origin from Castelluccio (Central Italy) are generally sold at a higher price in Italy, because generally considered of better quality than other lentils. This marketing strategy is obviously restricted to market niches, but is not fully exploited and offers other opportunities for other pulses. For the second strategy we would need substantial investments in research and innovation, which can reduce, if not abate, the yield gap between leguminous crops and cereals. As a matter of fact, the investments dedicated to the improvement of maize productivity are many folds higher than those allocated to leguminous crops. This difference explains at least partially their lower productivity. The knowledge recently gathered on leguminous genomics, not to say about the other “omic” sciences, offer an excellent starting base for a big research and innovation endeavor.
Massimo Iannetta