Italy: Sicilian agricultural entrepreneurs launch a project to reuse prickly pear scraps

A group of Sicilian agricultural entrepreneurs launches a challenge based on an intuition: the different products obtained from the prickly pear plant can conquer interesting margins on the market, with growing trends. The EBioScart - Go Fico project is based on this certainty for the enhancement and reuse of by-products and waste from Sicilian Opuntia Ficus-indica productions, also with the use of renewable energy sources for a bioeconomy. The project is based on the studies of the Cnr, the University of Catania and all the partners, who see the scientific and technological park of Sicily (PSTS) as the leader. We therefore look at Agriculture 4.0 which evaluates prickly pear waste as a precious resource for the parapharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetics industries. In fact, pectins, betanins, mucilages and prickly pear seed oil are extracted from the fruit. With this in mind, the aim is to double the economy of the fruit by developing more product areas by expanding market ...