HEMP: INNOVATIVE MULTIPURPOSE CULTURE FOR SICILIAN AGRICULTURE
"The changes will be realized with the attainment of the operational objective:
1. Industrial hemp variety selection on farms, and encourage the evolution and adaptation of varieties to different cultivation environments;
2. Optimize agronomic practices in order to obtain higher yields and qualities in favor of low-input cultivation methods.
3. Improve soil fertility with eco-sustainable cultivation practices to improve soil structure and improve crop production in rotation systems.
4. To document the economic and environmental sustainability of the industrial hemp chain.
The general objective is to adapt and spread the cultivation of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in the Sicilian context, to insert a multifunctional improving crop in the herbaceous cultivation systems, and to favor business diversification with a view to economic, energy and environmental. The selection of industrial hemp cultivars will be carried out (screening of 20 varieties), identifying the best agronomic practices, in order to increase the yields and the quality of the products, thus obtaining a better enhancement on the different properties of the seeds and flours, maximizing this crop in its use.
The territorial context is characterized by common problems: low levels of profitability of the agricultural sector, risk of abandonment of agricultural activity in less productive land with significant negative effects on hydrogeological protection and on the landscape, all of this associated with the new risks of climatic uncertainty.
The diversification of agricultural activities towards short-cycle crop production and directed, as in the case of hemp, towards multiple production phases (food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, biomaterials, etc.) would allow the enhancement of crops that can find new market spaces, thus obtaining greater revenues both in the food sector and in the industrial sector.
The phenology of hemp is strongly dependent on factors such as temperature and photoperiod therefore the identification of both thermal and photoperiodic requirements, on the selected varieties, aims to obtain a high production of seeds, oil and flours and can also help to identify areas of production potentials in the semi-arid environments of the Mediterranean.
The process innovation will consist in testing the cultivation of hemp in the Sicilian territory, through the assessment of the degree of adaptation of the variety in different representative climatic macro-areas, in each of which a special cultivation manual will be implemented. This innovation will make it possible to progressively introduce new genetic resources in the Sicilian agricultural context in order to provide companies operating in eco-sustainable and biological regimes with tools to dynamically cope with climate change. The innovation will be managed directly by farmers and disseminated with a detailed dissemination plan and the support of research institutions to ensure the widest access.
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