About the need to radically change in the country’s agricultural policy and the adoption of a national strategy with pillars of land management, digital transformation and interception of demographic collapse, the Anna Diamantopoulou In the 2nd Cantina Academy, criticizing the shortcomings, delays and pathogens that – as he said – have led the Greek countryside to desolation and impasse.
Former Commissioner and Minister and current head of his political strategic planning PASOK He pointed out that the country is far behind both in the field of agricultural land management and the exploitation of digital tools. Empowering the case of Ilia as an example, he referred to the drying of Lake Agoulinitsa in Krestena, which took place 70 years ago And since then it has created an informal land rental framework, so growers – as those who produce peanuts in the area – cannot be integrated into programs or investing with stability, since ownership regimes remain blurred. At the same time, population decline in many areas is rapid and alarming: 40% in Krestena, 70% in Pogoni, while in Drama, where agricultural land has been absorbed by photovoltaic, the reduction also reaches 40%.
As Ms. Diamantopoulou pointed out, agricultural policy has never been a coherent national priority and this timeless failure burdens the whole political system. The Greek region is experiencing double pressure: on the one hand the food industry has a remarkable momentum, but on the other the human and natural resource is exhausted. Although the recovery fund provided actions for green growth and digital transformation, Only 18 projects have progressed while most remain in inactivitywith time pushing.
The former minister has made a direct criticism of the lack of continuity in government policies, wondering how modern challenges can be tackled when a minister is changing every nine months and is absent. a constituted national strategy. In this context, he also commented on Hatzidakis statements on the water management strategy, saying that there are annual reports in Europe since 2004, while in Greece there are still intentions.
He also referred to important training and training programs for farmers, which have been legislated since 2014 but have not been implemented in one part of the country. Wondered Why is the available scientific potential utilizedsuch as agronomists and veterinarians, pointing out that there is a lack of specialized staff in livestock, while the market is flooded by pet professionals.
Ms. Diamantopoulou focused on the need to renew the rural population, noting that with farmers over 65 years of age and without technical education, the perspective is limited. He emphasized that a new plan for training and support of young people is required through the creation of institutes and partnerships with universities. At the same time, he described the reformed and concentration of agricultural land in exploitable and competitive areas, as a priority, escaping from the fragmentary logic of 10-15 acres.
Referring to technological progress, he noted that new solutions are already entering agriculture, such as robots for harvesting, drones For irrigation and land monitoring, and tools that require investment and specialized human resources. But he recalled that in the country the subsidies were consumed to a large extentwithout strategic planning, and emphasized that the crisis that Greece went through had to have taught us that we cannot continue in the same way.
Concerning OPEKEPE, he spoke of institutional distortion and administrative weakness, arguing that if full digital surveillance had been installed, there would be no circumvention phenomena such as those revealed with lamb farming in Crete. Wondered why the government did not reform the organization when The European Commission itself had ruled that it cannot continue to operate in the existing form.
In closing, Anna Diamantopoulou stressed that the answer to the timeless mismanagement culture is digital surveillance and accountability. He noted that for PASOK, agricultural production is a spearhead, as it is directly related to adequacy, demographic reconstruction and national resilience. He stressed that policies are needed that will boost crop on large areas, specialized programs for areas with population collapse, and deep incisions in the cooperative model to create a new framework for cooperation. As he said, ‘It is absolutely necessary to cooperate, but in a different way – otherwise we just cannot proceedยป.
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