Over 5,000 farms have been ravaged by floods in the north Italian region of Romagna, with the number of animals drowned and acreage of crops destroyed still unclear, according to Italy’s largest farming organisation Coldiretti.

Many are still reported as missing and authorities have confirmed that over 10 lives have been lost in the emergency, which occurred when more than 20 rivers burst their banks after heavy rains on Wednesday.

The Romagna region is known as the 'fruit valley' of Italy, with a horticultural output of around €1.2bn.

Difficulties

Coldiretti says that difficulties are being encountered by farmers trying to feed livestock, with forage reserves destroyed and damaged roads making transport on to farms challenging.

The group maintains that the fruit and vegetable sector is potentially the worst hit by the rains, with fruit plantations which took years to establish at risk of rot if waters do not recede quick enough.

Damage will also extend to rural houses, farms and machinery, the farmer organisation warned.

Useful actions

"Now the priority is to save human lives, but it is immediately necessary to implement any useful action aimed at economic and productive recovery, since the very survival of hundreds of companies and the workers who depend on them is at stake," said Coldiretti president Ettore Prandini.

“Given the extraordinary situation, we deem it necessary to issue a special government decree and the relative allocation of adequate resources to deal with the damages suffered, which are growing hour by hour for agricultural activities," he added.