Incentives for farmers
Subsidies aim to reverse aging of farming population, raise productivity
Aid to farmers will have an important place among the measures to be announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair Saturday.
These measures will not have an immediate effect but will be designed to reverse the aging of the farming population.
The trend is not confined to Greece: The situation is similar in other countries, such as France, notes Apostolos Papadopoulos, professor of geography at Harokopio University.
All employees in the agricultural sector, including seasonal workers and helping family members, number about 450,000-500,000 Papadopoulos says. “They are about 10% of the economically active population,” he says. But about 40% to 45% of farmers are now over 55. And many women, who used to help, without pay, of course, have left the sector, having found jobs elsewhere. At the same time, each farmer now tills more land as there is an ongoing consolidation of farms.
But consolidation cannot compensate for the loss of farmers and production is under threat: This is especially so in remote areas, such as the regions of Epirus, Western Macedonia and Thrace.
Faced with this, the government will more than double subsidies for young farmers (ages 18-40) who would either take over their parents’ farms instead of moving on to other jobs, or who do not come from farming families but would to start from scratch: By November, that is after the bulk of the farming season is over, the government will raise the subsidy to young farmers from €20,000 to €42,500.
Those receiving the subsidy must set a goal to increase yield by 20%. Officials hope that this measure will not only help preserve farms but make them more competitive.
