In a bid to combat the waning farming tradition on the island of Sardinia, Italian farmers have embarked on an innovative partnership with their counterparts in Kyrgyzstan.
In a bid to combat the waning farming tradition on the island of Sardinia, Italian farmers have embarked on an innovative partnership with their counterparts in Kyrgyzstan.
Italy’s leading agriculture trade group, Coldiretti, has ventured 6,000 miles eastward to Kyrgyzstan to recruit skilled shepherds proficient in Sardinian agricultural specialties, including cheese-making from goat and sheep milk, and horse breeding.
The groundbreaking agreement, announced by Coldiretti on Monday, entails a collaboration with the labor ministry in Biškek, enabling local Kyrgyz shepherds and their families to work under specialized employment contracts in abandoned regions of Sardinia. This landmark initiative signifies the first pilot project of its kind, coinciding with Italy’s agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida’s call to the EU to recognize farming as a strategic asset.
Sardinia, renowned for its meat and dairy production, as well as its picturesque beach resorts, has grappled with economic challenges stemming from the migration of younger generations to the mainland in pursuit of employment opportunities, leaving inland areas depleted of workers.
In the 1960s, agriculture constituted approximately 7-8% of Italy’s GDP. However, as younger Italians turned away from farming careers, companies and local administrations turned to foreign labor. Presently, agriculture accounts for about 2% of the nation’s GDP.
Over the past four decades, around 10,000 Sikh immigrants from India’s Punjab region have settled in northern Italy, playing a pivotal role in local dairy farming, notably in Parmesan cheese production.
Despite these efforts, agriculture in certain regions has been marred by allegations of illegal employment and mistreatment of workers. In Puglia, southern Italy, a group of local entrepreneurs faced arrest in 2022 for exploiting illegally employed tomato pickers from African countries.
The new pilot project aims to recruit 100 Kyrgyz nationals, aged 18 to 45, with farming expertise, to relocate to the rural districts of Sassari, Barbagie, and Sarrabus. Initially, their visas will be temporary, but they will transition to permanent status following the completion of training and apprenticeship programs. Coldiretti confirmed that the Kyrgyz workers will be supported in Italy by “cultural mediators.”
Coldiretti emphasized that the initiative seeks to combat rural area abandonment, exacerbated by aging populations and declining birth rates. In the long term, the program envisions the potential relocation of “thousands of foreigners” to the area.
While Italy issues relatively fewer working visas compared to other European nations, experts and politicians have underscored the necessity of migrant workers to sustain the agricultural sector.
Coldiretti revealed that 358,000 foreign workers from 164 countries, including seasonal laborers, are legally employed in Italian agriculture, constituting approximately a quarter of the sector’s workforce.
Italy’s right-wing government, although not directly involved in the pilot program with Kyrgyzstan, has also taken steps this year to prohibit synthetic meat production to safeguard the country’s culinary tradition and farming industry.
In Kyrgyzstan, agriculture engages about 40% of the labor force and contributes to a fifth of the GDP. Unlike in neighboring post-Soviet countries, agriculture there is predominantly carried out on small family-owned farms.
Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre focused on Central Asian countries, noted that Kyrgyzstan is diversifying its outward migration flows, evident in their agreement to send seasonal agricultural workers to the UK in 2022.