Lebanon at the Thessaloniki Summit: Banks to trust the Greek agricultural economy

The controls in the market will continue with the aim of supporting the Greek producers and to protect our products, stressed at the “Thessaloniki summit”, the Minister of Rural Development and Food Mr. Spilios Libanos.

The topic of the discussion table in which he participated was “The future of agriculture-livestock, after the end of the Pandemic” and it was attended by: Christos Apostolopoulos, President of SEVGAP, Konstantinos Apostolou, President of the Union of Canners of Greece, Christos GianNthakas, Pro of the Interprofessional Organization of Nuts and Pears and Thomas Arapogiannis, Vice President of TUB HELLAS. The discussion was moderated by the journalist, Nektarios Notis.

The Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure stressed the need for banks to support farmers’ investment activities, without mortgaging personal assets and called on them to trust the Greek agricultural economy.

Regarding the education of farmers, he said that in addition to the 6 Public Vocational Schools that started operating this year, there is a plan for another 20 schools throughout the country, which will be connected to the needs of each place.

For RES, he stressed that he supports their development in agricultural production and referred to the possibility for farmers to produce for their own use electricity up to 500KW instead of 100KW that was until recently.

Answering other questions, he stressed that the policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy is to support organic crops and this can be seen from the expansion of the program to arboriculture. He acknowledged the lack of sufficient resources in the crop restructuring program and the need to regulate the issue of foreign land workers on a permanent basis.

Specifically, Mr. Libanos answered the following topics:

For market controls and Hellenizations:

We have the political will to create a framework of rationality and justice, but which will also be governed by rigor. Because the Hellenizations that you mentioned, in the end, apart from the quality degradation of the product, hit the Greek producer directly. With the effort we have made lately you see that the price to the producer of goat’s and sheep’s milk has risen by 50%. This is a huge increase. Unfortunately, our breeders can not enjoy it because the increase in raw materials is very large. But without this increase we would have a terrible crisis in the livestock sector, because we would have the increase in raw materials that comes from the crisis in world trade and could not be offset by anything. But it is a success. It has cracks, it has shocks, because every reform bothers some. But we will continue the controls. We will strengthen the “Artemis” system we use. With “Artemis plus” we digitally transform our control mechanisms, while its application will be extended to other products.

For Education – Training of Farmers:

In terms of technology there is no doubt that we are far behind. This is due to many parameters. We believe that this is related to education and training. That is why we are investing in rural education, in consultation with the Ministry of Education. We formulate a coherent plan for how rural education will be developed from kindergarten to agricultural schools. We at YPAAT have the ability to manage the average level of schools. We believe in vocational education. We have already created 6 Public IEK with 7 specialties. We have made a plan for another 20 Schools throughout Greece with essential criteria for strengthening entrepreneurship and not political management. That is, we want to connect IEK with the needs of each region in production. For example, in the area of ​​Mr. Gannakakis (central Macedonia) to produce industrial workers who will be able to go to the fruit packers, where we have a shortage of workers, thus reducing unemployment.

The other issue is the programs we have in the RDP and especially the program of digital transformation and intelligent agriculture which we have included in the Recovery Fund that will run in the coming months.

On the subject of banks:

We have started a public debate that will develop. In the coming days we will have a meeting with the seven banks that participate in the Guarantee Fund Program of 480 million euros (80 million was put by the Ministry of Regional Development as a guarantee and the rest were put by the banks). We have low absorption. Yes, there was a pandemic that delayed the procedures, on the other hand we all have to be pressured and the banks have to take their share of responsibility, which I admit that in the discussions they take it personally, but we have to see it develop in practice . We must get away from the logic that in order to get a small or large loan, the farmer has to put his personal property as a mortgage in order to get the loan. Banks also need to look at the agricultural economy as a whole as they see the other sectors of the economy. Trust her and come with us and take the risks. Globally – and for Greece – the analysis shows that there is great potential for development of this area. I believe that in the end the banks will also win. At the same time, we are making an effort to integrate entrepreneurship into the strategy of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure. In other words, to change the mentality that governs the rural area and to unite producers, universities, the Ministry and the overall perception that exists for the area with entrepreneurship. It is our strategic goal and in this context I am in contact with funds that do not come from the rural area. They see the window of opportunity. They have already made some small investments and we are trying to create the framework to do more. At the same time, we present our rural area and the possibilities it has in other investment schemes, apart from the three that already feel good with this area, in order to develop the possibilities of introducing new funds in our rural economy.

We are also in collaboration with the Development Bank to see how we can create different financing tools for the space.

I am very optimistic about the overall growth of entrepreneurship in the field. I believe that gradually and through the other policies that we – listening to the market – we formulate, we will be able to good numbers in the pandemic period, the positive balance built in the last year to continue and the rural economy to get a bigger piece GDP and help the country develop the “pie” of the economy.

For RES:

At YPAAT we support the relationship between RES and production. We do not want to replace all the productive fields of the country with photovoltaics, on the contrary. We want to strengthen the possibilities of creating cooperative communities. I personally believe that it is the basic expression of popular capitalism, in which I believe ideologically. They must be given, and we are making a great effort, I say it publicly and I ask for your assistance in this, to convince the Ministry of Environment, that the energy communities have a special priority, precisely because they help the agricultural income.

Do you know that we have passed the rural photovoltaic, up to 500 kilowatt hours. I consider this to be one of the important contributions of our government and ministry to farmers.

For the lack of documentation in the Ministry of Regional Development:

Documentation is a question and it is questionable how there is no quantification of politics in Greece. We are trying to do it, but it presupposes a total change in the way the Greek state and its ministry operate. Individuals can also contribute to this, but you are right that you cannot pursue a serious policy if it is not quantified.

For organic products:

As for organic products, let us not bring disaster. I am optimistic and I think they will do very well. Greece is in a much better position than many other countries in the EU, if we look at the data on the production of organic products. Of course, we include organic produce and pastures in our total production areas, but in any case, we are in a better position than many other European countries.

At the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, we have announced the program that will “run” from December as we accelerate it, while we have planned to allocate even more money in the next programming period.

As you know, in addition to clover, we have included in organic crops and tree crops as well as fruits and vegetables.

Therefore, the strategy of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure is focused on organic products.

For the restructuring of crops:

As far as the Recovery Fund is concerned, there is really little money for crop restructuring. You should know, however, that we fought very hard to achieve the accession of 180 million euros. So put pressure on us, too, to push Europe to give us more money for restructuring, because we need it.

For foreign land workers:

With regard to the issue of cooperation with the Ministry of Immigration, there is indeed a need for the rest of the public administration to understand the need for a framework for foreign land workers. We have taken many steps in recent months to remove obstacles to the exploitation of land workers in the primary sector.