The role of agriculture for the integration of migrants: the Italian case

At present migration phenomenon is one of the main economic, social, and political problem of our days. We can also say that, it is a clear consequence of current paths of development based on unequal growth, concentration of wealth and spread of poverty. The form of migration we mostly hear about is defined as “Distress Migration”, that is migration is considered the only way to improve life conditions. This widespread problem involves about one billion people, many of them coming from African continent. Europe and, in particular, Italy, because of its geographical position, is one of the most exposed to the migration phenomenon area. The need to cope with the migration emergency poses shot-term and long-term problems. The former is referred to the theme of reception, the latter to the integration. Notwithstanding both of these problems can be efficiently tackled on an international level, it is out of doubt that every Countries and, especially, the most exposed to migratory flows, as Italy, need to plan a form of socio-economic integration. In this framework, agriculture can play an important role, not only as baseline for paths of development to be started in the Country of origin, but, also, as opportunity of socio-economic inclusion and integration in the Countries of destination.