FIRST LAB VISIT PEANUTPUGLIA PROJECT
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On May 30, 2022, at 11:30 AM, the first laboratory visit of the PEANUTPUGLIA project - Production and enhancement of peanut fruit in Puglia - funded under the RDP Puglia 2014-2020 - SM 16.2 "Support for pilot projects and the development of new products, practices, processes, and technologies," with a total amount of €452,714.00, will take place. The visit will be held at the Predictive Microbiology Laboratory of the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Food, Natural Resources, and Engineering (DAFNE) - University of Foggia, Via Napoli No. 25, Foggia, where the Technical Scientific Coordinator of the project - Prof. Antonio Bevilacqua - will demonstrate a challenge test for peanuts in post-harvest.
The project aims to: study and develop the most suitable varietal selection for the territory; develop and test innovative cultivation techniques to make the crop profitable and competitive in the Puglia region; test the adaptability of current harvesting machines or the need to introduce specific ones to maximize yields in this phase; test and refine the best storage and conditioning techniques for fruits in the post-harvest phase to offer high-quality products with the required specifications to the market.
Peanuts, belonging to the legume family, are an improvement crop for the soil, favored by a fast cycle, with planting in early May and harvesting at the end of September. In legume cultivation, Puglia is one of the leading regions in the South in terms of surface area and volumes produced, second only to Molise (ISTAT), and can boast many typical varieties. The demand for dried fruits in general and peanuts has been steadily increasing for several years in Italy and in most Western countries, with particularly high rates in recent years, up to +10% in 2017, in a market that exceeded one billion euros in the same year (ISTAT, ISMEA). Therefore, there is an opportunity for Puglia's farmers linked to a growing market and a specific crop, peanuts.
The contextual analysis also shows how peanuts, like all legumes, can offer significant agricultural advantages in the Puglia region, serving as an alternative crop in rotation with wheat and tomatoes, with positive effects on nitrogen and organic matter enrichment in the soil and productive yields of rotational crops. Based on the insights from the Operational Group members of the project, despite attempts being made and ongoing efforts in Puglia, the development of a local peanut supply chain is lagging. There is a lack of adequate knowledge of cultivation techniques and suitable varieties for the local territories. The selection of varieties, experimentation, and development of specialized agricultural machinery, testing the use of biofertilizers, and determining optimal conditions for stabilization and storage of fruits are necessary. Addressing these gaps would put Puglia's cereal farmers in a position to seize an interesting market opportunity, differentiating productions with positive effects on the profitability of their businesses.
The project partners form an Operational Group of the PEI AGRI, a cooperation model based on the "interactive innovation model" that involves collaboration among various actors to make the best use of different complementary types of knowledge. The main objective is co-creating and disseminating solutions/opportunities ready to be implemented in practice. The PEANUT GO is composed of significant stakeholders such as: AZIENDE AGRICOLE RIUNITE PEDONE, DARE PUGLIA, UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI FOGGIA, CIA PUGLIA, CONAPO, I.F.OR. SRL, and consulting companies that have been promoting and evaluating innovations in the agri-food sector for years, such as ARETE’ and CASSANDRO.
