`Greece Requests Aid for Expected Drop in Olive Oil and Table Olive Production - Olive Oil Times
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Greece Requests Aid for Expected Drop in Olive Oil and Table Olive Production

By Costas Vasilopoulos
Aug. 4, 2021 15:07 UTC

Greece has made an offi­cial request to the Council of the European Union to receive finan­cial aid for oil olive oil and table olive pro­duc­ers hit by the extreme weather con­di­tions that pre­vailed in parts of the coun­try dur­ing the last six months.

The request was based on the reduced fruition of the olive trees recorded in seven pro­duc­ing regions, which is expected to dra­mat­i­cally reduce the pro­duc­tion of table olives and olive oil in these areas ahead of the 2021 har­vest, the coun­try asserted.

We are deal­ing with a dra­matic reduc­tion in the pro­duc­tion of olives and olive oil, account­ing for approx­i­mately 70 per­cent to 90 per­cent of the expected out­put.- Greek del­e­ga­tion at European Parliament, 

“The excep­tion­ally low tem­per­a­tures of the spring frost events were fol­lowed by the heat­waves of May and June, with tem­per­a­tures approach­ing 40 °C,” the Greek del­e­ga­tion to Brussels told the Council.

See Also:New E.U. Ag Policy Could Benefit Greek Olive Growers If Requirements Are Met

“These weather con­di­tions, com­bined with almost no rain­fall, occurred dur­ing a very sen­si­tive stage in the olive cul­ti­va­tion, the flow­er­ing and the fruit­ing,” the del­e­ga­tion fur­ther explained. ​“Under these cir­cum­stances, olive trees showed flower fall and fruit fall.”

“As a result, we are deal­ing with a dra­matic reduc­tion in the pro­duc­tion of olives and olive oil, account­ing for approx­i­mately 70 per­cent to 90 per­cent of the expected out­put,” the del­e­ga­tion added.

The ter­ri­to­ries included in the claim for finan­cial aid are the islands of Crete, Lesvos and Euboea, sev­eral regions of the south­ern Peloponnese and Fokida, Fthiotida and Halkidiki on the country’s main­land.

The local author­i­ties of some of the areas hit by the extreme weather had noti­fied the Greek Ministry of Agriculture about the reduced fruition phe­nom­e­non in advance.

“The pre­vail­ing weather con­di­tions have adversely affected the flow­er­ing and the fruition of the [trees of the] Kalamon vari­ety,” Yiorgos Papanastasiou, the mayor of Agrinio, wrote in a let­ter to Minister of Agriculture Spilios Livanos.

See Also:Researchers Seek Better Understanding of Olive Drupe Development

Papanastasiou also warned that ​“it will severely impact the income of local pro­duc­ers since [table “” not found /]
are one of the most prof­itable crops of the munic­i­pal­ity.”

The mayor also asked Livanos to come and see the dam­age caused and pro­vide back­ing to the pro­duc­ers affected by the phe­nom­e­non.

In Brussels, Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski grouped the Greek claim with the requests for com­pen­sa­tion from the recently flood-hit coun­tries of west­ern Europe, includ­ing Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

After tor­ren­tial down­pours late last month, sev­eral rivers in the region broke their banks caus­ing many casu­al­ties and tak­ing a heavy toll on the agri­cul­tural sec­tor by flood­ing farms and crops.

Wojciechowski said that the com­mis­sion is will­ing to acti­vate the tools and instru­ments to pro­vide sup­port for the restora­tion of the dam­ages.

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