Sicilian Avocado® is watered by the sky. It may sound like a joke, but it's not. In fact, it's an important reality, which makes avocado not only an ideal fruit to cultivate in this region, but also a product perfectly aligned with an ethical and environmental approach.
Yet, every now and then, we come across unfounded statements, such as this one: "Avocado is one of the most water-intensive fruits on the planet", which gives us the opportunity to tell you about another aspect of the wonderful marriage between Sicilian territory and tropical fruit.
The environmental sustainability of the Sicilian product is indeed significantly superior to that of the American, or even the European one. Moreover, the one cultivated in a particular area of Sicily has a characteristic that makes it even more "sustainable".
Avocado and consumption
The recent success of avocado as a versatile, tasty, and healthy fruit has inevitably increased its consumption. This has drawn attention to the ethics of these cultivations, which have developed quite recently in Europe and Italy.
Someone, without any scientific basis, has stated that the water footprint of avocado cultivation has a negative impact on the ecosystem (estimated at about 70 liters of water per fruit), but this is not the case. Therefore, it is good to clarify.
In general, for our market, the consumption of Italian avocado immediately leads to a saving in CO₂ emissions, which are generated every time this tropical fruit is transported from an overseas country. If it is a Sicilian Avocado®, the environmental saving is double! And now we will show you.
In Giarre, avocados are not watered!
All farmers in Giarre and, more generally, in the province of Catania - in the areas around the slopes of Mount Etna - know this: thanks to the presence of the volcano, this majestic masterpiece of nature, clouds are catalyzed, making the entire surrounding area very humid (with over a thousand annual milliliters of rainfall).
This 100% "natural" characteristic allows us to water our tropical fruit cultivations very little, significantly reducing water consumption. Only in the hot and dry month of August, do we resort to a few hours of irrigation per week.
Therefore, the cultivation of Sicilian Avocado® and the production of tropical fruit on the slopes of Etna take place in total respect of the environment and the ethical code.
On the other hand, if avocado cultivation had entailed a negative environmental impact, we would never have chosen to redevelop our uncultivated lands in this way and would have opted for other crops.
While awaiting more well-founded and confirmed scientific data, we not only want to deny (we cultivate them, so we know what we are talking about) that avocado needs a lot of water to grow (in fact, it suffers from excessive water), but we also proudly want to remember that it is here in Giarre and its surroundings that avocado has found its home.
And only here is it watered by the sky!