By the end of the year, the Italian Regions will have to publish the individual tenders relating to the machinery decree envisaged by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Calabria can count on an endowment equal to approximately 22 million euros with which Calabrian farmers will be able to replace polluting off-road agricultural vehicles with zero-emission vehicles and purchase equipment for precision agriculture, with a spending limit of 70 thousand euros. By 2026, 15 thousand beneficiaries will have to receive the contribution as indicated by the European Union. Precisely in order not to miss the objective, FederacmaConfcommercio Federation of national associations of agricultural and gardening machinery retailers, addressed to Councilor Gallo and the competent regional offices a series of ideas and suggestions in order to improve the effectiveness of the measure.
“After starting discussions with the PNRR Mission Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, where numerous of our requests were accepted – declares Andrea Borio, president of Federacma – we now ask the Regions who will manage this measure to listen. Among our proposals: the use of the operational model already tested with the financing conveyed through the Rural Development Plan where the farmer can maximize liquidity, in exchange for a bank loan, temporarily seeing just 20% of his resources taken away as deposit to reserve the machinery. An approach that envisages dealers playing the role of advancers of the financing – goes on – would effectively block the measure. We also believe it is appropriate to provide reasonable delivery times, given the international scenario which complicates the work of manufacturers, the installation of latest generation anti-theft devices, with GPS detection and connection to Interpol to avoid supporting agriculture with Italian funds of foreign states as well as clearly eliminating the possibility of purchasing, as happened in the past, 4×4 electric or biomethane off-road vehicles which have nothing to do with the world of production”.
Finally, there is no shortage of suggestions on the correct procedure for replacing old polluting vehicles. “Contrary to past experiences – declares Borio (Federacma) – it should only happen for vehicles that are running and functioning and, possibly, with registration before 1996 so as to remove tractors without the most basic safety devices such as belts and roll-bars from the roads and fields. Suffice it to say that every year at least 120 deaths are recorded due to tractor overturns. We would thus achieve – concludes the president of Federacma – a double result for the benefit of the environment and workers”.