Cotton, the “white gold” of Greece

The Minister of Rural Development and Food, Lefteris Avgenakis, expressed his support for the operation of interprofessional organizations in the context of promoting cooperative schemes in the primary sector, with the aim of better promoting Greek products in the markets, during the meeting he had in Larissa with the Interprofessional Cotton Organization .

Today in Greece, between 2.5 and 3 million hectares of cotton are cultivated. Greece produces 80% of European cotton, while it employs 45,000 families and offers work to more than 100,000 people.

As stated by the president of the organization, Efthymis Foteinos, their goal is to increase the value of the product and, consequently, the income of the producers, speaking of “a product that the entire industry is fighting to get the surplus value it should and place on the highest pedestal not only of the European but also of the world market”.

Irrigation problems

As the main problem, the members of the cotton organization mentioned the issue of irrigation, through which the cost of production increases.

For his part, Mr. Avgenakis pointed out that among the priorities of the FSAAT is the creation of a plan for water management and policy, as many of the projects that “we have to develop are also connected to the Ministry of the Environment, so we must to have partnerships to see how we will stimulate, how we will highlight crops like cotton”.

The Minister of Rural Development asked for proposals from the members of the Interprofessional Association, in order to facilitate the promotion of the product, which is considered to be the best in terms of quality, on the market. In fact, he described the cotton organization as a “role model”, which constantly develops and highlights their product not only at the national but also at the European level.

Also, as he pointed out, the cycle of meetings with the organization will soon be completed and then there will be an overall meeting “because the good practices, which are applied here for example, should be known to other similar organizations”, as he said.