Flood damage to Thessaly cotton ‘great,’ says expert

The region of Thessaly in central Greece is responsible for 81,000 hectares of the 250,000 hectares of cotton grown in Greece and the destruction wrought by storms Daniel and Elias in September was significant, according to the foremost cotton expert at the Hellenic Agricultural Organization (ELGO).

“My estimation, following on-site surveys and communications with the producers was that the destruction is great,” Mohammed Darawsheh, the head of the National Quality Control Center for the Classification and Standardization of Cotton at ELGO, told Kathimerini.

Darawsheh explains that of those quantities grown in Thessaly, almost half, 40,000 hectares, are in Karditsa, 27,000 are in Larissa and 9,300 in Trikala.

Storm Daniel, he added, took out 60-70% of the crop in Karditsa, 50-60% in Larissa and 40% in Trikala, while the subsequent storm, Elias, wiped out another 15-20% across the board.