Italian medlars, disastrous end of campaign

The Sicilian medlars represent an important niche which, over time, is gaining more and more importance in the national markets. The main areas include the Conca d'Oro of Palermo, where some small agricultural realities operate which for many years have been carrying out a work of valorisation of the ripe and ready-to-eat medlar. what emerges from the operators' testimonies was an uphill campaign. Paolo Marcenò, president of the Valle Dell'Oreto Cooperative, tells IFN about the productive and commercial year, a reality that, since the early 1930s, had medlars among its main crops, thanks to the passion of the founder Stefano Marcenò. “An unfortunate season we can say because the weather was disastrous. We had massive damage, with 50% of the product lost due to rain and wind. Furthermore, Saharan sand has reached our coasts which, certainly, is not good for the product which is very delicate". too many obstacles. Then, like every year, we had to face the Spanish competition which, ...