The MOVING Reference Region of the Northern Apennines (Italy) studies the value chain of chestnut flour in the study area of the Apuan Alps.
The coordinators of this region, the University of Pisa, have conducted more than 15 field interviews with producers and processors since the beginning of March 2022.
They went to this mountain area directly to the mills, to learn more about the difficulties of the processor, and met with producers to understand the opportunities and weaknesses of this value chain (VC)
During this period of consultations they have collected a lot of information, which they have used to describe the VC and explain the main results during a specific participatory workshop with members of the regional Multi-Actor Platform (MAP).
The workshop held on 24 June was a follow-up to the previous one held in 2021 on value chain vulnerability analysis. More than 25 people participated in the workshop and generated a positive debate on the topics presented.
To try to involve more people, the coordinators chose to include the workshop in the events held at the local mountain festival called “Solstizio d’estate”. In this festival there were different activities: a farmers’ market, music concerts, lyrical opera with the cast of Puccini and also a specific workshop on mountain issues called “Mountain custodian to regenerate communities”.
The workshop on mountain issue was open by Mario Puppa, member of the Council of Tuscany, to describe the opportunities offered by the new regional law 01-03-2022 n.4 called “Mountain custodian” with aimed to reduce mountain depopulation and revitalizing the social and economic aspects of mountain areas. In this framework, colleagues from the University of Pisa have described all the activities carried out at local level, with a specific focus on MOVING and on the opportunities of VC chestnut flour.
The regional MAP of Northern Apennines chose to broaden its horizon and consider the analysis of the VC in a broad but specific framework focusing on the opportunities for the mountain population.