The watermelon harvest in Italy is staying in the field due to low purchase prices.

In the municipality of Crotone in the southern Italian region of Calabria, farmers are leaving watermelons to rot in the fields as wholesale purchase prices have fallen to 7-8 euro cents per kilogram, reported Coldiretti, the largest agricultural organization in the country. They further clarified that the offered prices do not even cover the production costs of the harvested crop. Meanwhile, large quantities of imported watermelons can be found in supermarkets across Italy. The prices of melons have also fallen, and the situation in the sector has been further complicated by the drought that has gripped the country. All of this deepens the already national crisis in the agricultural sector, Coldiretti emphasized. "We, the farmers, want the significance of this crisis to be recognized to protect our incomes and the dignity of the sector, which can no longer tolerate this silently. We cannot accept that agricultural labor is valued as much as garbage. There needs to be transparency ...