14/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Italian farmers are demanding safeguards against Moroccan tomatoes. Italian farm organisation COLDIRETTI is calling on the European Commission to activate safeguard mechanisms against Moroccan tomatoes. The trade deal with Morocco has led to an “invasion of tomatoes” and generated an “unprecedented crisis” for Italian tomato production, explains the organisation, particularly in Puglia and Sicily, and giving detailed figures of the losses suffered. COLDIRETTI says Italy produces more than a million table tomatoes in the open field and greenhouses thanks to the industry leaders in Sicily, but the cultivated area has fallen by 13% over the past fifteen years. COLDIRETTI is challenging the import of Moroccan tomatoes and also the opening of the EU market to Tunisian olive oil. In addition, it denounces facilities granted by the EU to imports of products in conditions of unfair competition with Italian tomato growers. (FB)