Italy: Grower price Sicilian Cantaloupe melons at low point with 10/20 ct/kg

"The Sicilian season of Cantaloupe melon seems to be a complete disaster for the growers. They are barely offered 20 cents per kilo for their product," says Alessandro Morgana, a small-scale grower from Palma di Montechiaro. The melons are grown in a fairly extensive area, from Palma di Montechiaro and Licata to further south along the coast of the island. Alessandro Morgana "There is not a bad word to say about the quality, but the commercial value is minimal. The cultivation costs, on the other hand, are a fixed item and are also constantly increasing. A Cantaloupe seedling, for example, costs € 1.00 to € 1.05, but the costs do not stop there of course not. The crops also have to be covered with plastic, the plants have to be treated and fertilizers also cost money. Even if a plant succeeds in producing 6 to 8 kg of melon, the cultivation costs amount to 60/70 euro cents per kilo And then there are the labor costs that no one talks about, because the work of the small-scale ...