A " certain damage " for Sardinia , which risks losing over 500 hectares of crops and hundreds of jobs . This is the effect that could be had, according to Silvio Lai , Sardinian parliamentarian of the Democratic Party and member of the Budget Commission in the Chamber, by the approval of the security decree , which provides for the stop to the cultivation and processing of hemp inflorescences. A measure that, according to Lai, would put an end to an entire agricultural supply chain on the island: "It would be cancelled," he says, "a historic and rooted crop in Sardinia since the Middle Ages, consolidated in the 19th century."
The parliamentarian denounces that the new provisions , with the ban on cultivation, production, processing and sale of hemp inflorescences, would affect a production sector that already employs over 300 people , including farmers, cooperatives and processing companies. «It is a virtuous and sustainable supply chain – he underlines – that represents a pillar for many rural communities and an ecological alternative to intensive crops». The risk, according to Lai, is that «with a stroke of the pen» years of investments and agricultural reconversion projects will be erased , damaging a sector that offered a concrete opportunity against the decline of internal areas and youth unemployment.
Estimates from trade associations speak of potential economic damage exceeding 1.5 million euros per year , between lost revenues and lost investments. Furthermore, Lai emphasizes, while a legitimate agricultural supply chain is blocked in Italy, hemp will continue to arrive from other European countries, where regulations are more modern and favorable to cultivation: "It only creates competitive damage to Italian producers, without any benefit for safety". Finally, the Democratic MP announces a possible legal challenge at the Court of Justice of the European Union : "The rule disproportionately affects a legitimate agricultural activity, violating community principles on the free movement of goods and the proportionality of sanctions".
(Unioneonline/vf)