Pella: Bad weather and low prices left the cherries on the trees

The low selling prices compared to those of the production, the unprofitable cost of the cultivation materials, the lack of land workers, always combined with the severe bad weather that recently hit the region, has forced the cherry growers of Pella to leave the fruits on the trees and the their crops at the mercy of God.

As the president of the “Enotita” Pella Livestock Association typically reports in GRTimes, Christos Kamtsis“this year the producers sold their harvest for half the money and specifically for 60-70 cents per kilo, while last year prices ranged from 1.30 to 1.40 euros. Regardless of how the cherry reaches the consumer, the sums for the producers have fallen in half and even at a time when everything has taken the… uphill».

90% of the production was left on the trees

The above event combined with the bad weather that affected the traditional cherry product in Pella, brought a very negative result which Mr. Kamtsis describes. “90% of the harvest, if not 100%, and I am exaggerating, is abandoned on the producers’ estates. It is completely unprofitable at this time for someone to collect them” emphasizes the president of the “Enotita” Pella Livestock Association.

“The world must understand that at the moment the farmers of our region are living with “fumes”. And as with cherries, so also with peaches, the ELGA regulation does not allow us to reach direct compensations based on the damage suffered by crops from the natural disaster» he adds.

And he characteristically adds that “this is not a current phenomenon. For example, we have been asking for support from the government for years. Since last November we have been explaining that we do not know if we will be able to collect the grain in the summer. We have been saying this since the fuel did not reach 2.5 euros and the fertilizer did not reach 1,500 euros/ton. If there is will and mood, the problem can be solved, but not with return measures of 40 and 80 euros. The war is not only to blame for everything we are going through».

The demands of the mobilization

It should be noted that yesterday, July 4, 2022, the farmers of Pella gathered in the central square of Edessa, demanding:

• Change of the regulation of ELGA, so that it insures against all natural phenomena and diseases, and compensates 100% of the damage with sufficient state funding.
• Reduction of production costs. Abolition of the readjustment clause, tax-free agricultural oil, abolition of VAT on agricultural supplies and animal feed.
• Prices in the products they produce to cover the cost of production, and allow the cultivation to continue.

“The disaster that befell us with the weather was also great, which not only damaged the cherries, but also the peaches. Elsewhere we had heavy rains, elsewhere we had hail” underlined the president of the Pella Livestock Association.

The prices for cherries are humiliating

The president of the Skydra Agricultural Association moved along the same wavelength, Panagiotis Passakis talking about the issue of unharvested crops in GRTimes.

“Cherry prices are humiliating this year. If you consider that the industrial cherry that goes straight to the refrigerator was available at 0.40 and 0.50 cents per kilo, the good cherry ranged from 0.80 cents to 1 euro per kilo, while the very good reached 1.10. These amounts do not even cover the minimum cost of cultivation» characteristically notes Mr. Pasakis.

He adds “that the problem of unharvested fields exists in addition to cherries and peaches and nectarines, which also remained on the trees, either because they died due to bad weather, or because they are uncommercial. Cherries, according to an old ELGA regulation, cannot be declared. If they put everything in one package again, the amount allocated will be very small and will not even reach the cost we spent on fertilizers.”

The president of the Skydras Agricultural Association does not fail to mention the problem of lack of workers who, seeing the situation, “migrated” to somewhere better. “This happened because last year when we had frost and total disasters, the workers who are usually people from abroad, were not asked for and this year they looked to find better ways of living or try their luck abroad. For example, the “source” of labor that in previous years was Albania, has dried up for Greece this year“, underlines Mr. Pasakis, adding another reason why this year the producers left the fruits on the trees or gave part of their harvest to the farmers.

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