The exit from the pandemic is returning a breath of fresh air to the horticultural sector, which due to the ban on ceremonies, fairs and public events during the lockdown has paid a heavy price to the Covid emergency, with a 1.7 billion euro crack. EUR. “The sector – explains the president of Coldiretti, Ettore Prandini – is among those that is recovering more quickly thanks also to strong demand from abroad, where there is a record increase of 33% in exports of made in Italy plants in the first quarter of 2021 “.
Orders from Northern Europe
Orders from the rest of Europe, especially from the North, are currently guaranteeing the recovery of Italian nurseries. But to boost plant and flower producers even more will be the 330 million euros that the recently approved Recovery Fund allocates exclusively to the “protection and enhancement of urban and extra-urban green”, with the minimum objective of plant at least 6.6 million trees on 6,600 hectares of urban forests.
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The value of production is 2.7 billion
The one activated by the PNRR will be an extraordinary opportunity for the relaunch of national horticulture, a sector that guarantees 200 thousand jobs and which, including flowers and plants, has an annual production worth 2.7 billion euros. But it will also be an important opportunity for public administrations, which will thus be able to expand the green spaces of Italian cities. Although our country can count on almost 90 million square meters of urban parks in the provincial capital cities, according to the data released by Coldiretti, each inhabitant now has just 33.8 square meters of parks. They range from 15.2 square meters of urban green per inhabitant in Messina to 17.1 in Rome, from 17.8 in Milan to 22.2 in Florence, from 42.4 in Venice to 9.2 in Bari.
The “Bosco vivo” project
An example of what could be done with the Recovery plan funds is the “Living forest and urban forests” project by Coldiretti and Federforeste, thanks to which 50 million trees can be planted in Italy over the next five years in the areas urban and metropolitan forests to create urban forests with an ecological connection between cities, high-productivity lowland agricultural systems and the forest heritage present in natural areas. In addition to exports, data from the beginning of the year say that The internal demand for flowers and plants has also started to grow again: according to Coldiretti, almost 7 out of 10 Italians have made purchases of greenery to beautify their homes and gardens, but also to directly grow fruit and vegetables to bring to the table.