The extent of the damage caused to the primary production of the plain of Thessaly by the floods caused by the “Daniel” phenomenon is unprecedented. The agricultural area of ​​Thessaly amounts to approximately 3.3 million acres, of which almost 2.3 million acres are “irrigated”. According to the first estimates, the recent floods caused by the “Daniel” phenomenon had the effect of “covering” with water and mud almost 750,000 hectares, mainly in lowland areas.

As the professor and director of the Agriculture laboratory at the Agricultural University of Athens, Dimitris Bilalis, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, “many of these areas are not arable land, they are industrial lands, urban areas, etc.” The lands that have suffered some kind of damage amount to 600,000-650,000 acres and concern crops such as cotton, industrial tomatoes, corn, alfalfa, etc.

The future of animal production

The livestock production of Thessaly also received a big blow, where many breeders have seen their livestock completely destroyed. According to the data from ELGA, until Friday afternoon the reported losses in goats and sheep amount to 67,041, in cattle to 5,698, to beehives to 47,666, to pigs to 20,097 and to birds to 126,416.

Until the same time, the competent services had collected and managed (including landfill or incineration) 29,786 dead goats and sheep, 16,105 pigs, 72 cattle and 49,300 birds.

As high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food reported to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, “the biggest problem in this whole process is the approach to the places where the dead animals are located, since the roads leading to most livestock facilities have been destroyed, while the environment where business is carried out is constantly changing, since the water level fluctuates from region to region”.

From 2020, the Ministry of Rural Development had a National Dead Animal Management Plan. “We relied on this, assisted by many private digging machines, under the guidance of the veterinarians of the Region of Thessaly, who are also managing the crisis,” they said, adding that “from the operations center in Larissa, daily it is assessed which livestock units we can try and coordinate the crews and the project machinery so that the dead animals are harvested in a safe and sanitary manner, which will then be taken to either furnaces or burial, always observing the necessary sanitary protocols”.

All the staff of the veterinary service and the HYPAAT who have been in the area since the first day are in constant contact with the breeders, in order to coordinate the collection crews of the dead animals.

A few days ago, in addition to the company managing the dead animals, 40 Army officers were involved in the process, which under the guidance of the veterinarians of the P.E. Thessaly, they mainly operate in peri-urban areas, collecting the remaining dead animals.

As Mr. Bilalis stated to APE-MBE, “livestock production will take a long time to return to its previous rates, since in order to do this there will have to be feed production. Also, many stables have been seriously damaged and will have to be re-licensed in order for their construction to start again.”

What about cotton and facilities

According to the calculations so far, of the total areas that have been flooded, almost 350,000 hectares are cotton crops. “The damage is not universal. We will have to see to what height the plant has been covered with water” said Mr. Bilalis and added “if it has been covered to a small height, then the yield will have dropped but we will not talk about a total disaster”.

In addition to crops, serious damage has been caused to processing units in Thessaly and especially in the area of ​​Palamas, to gins, grain storage silos. Almost half of the gins operating in the area have been damaged, however “we will have an accurate picture when the full recording is done by the competent crews”, he noted.

Serious losses in agricultural equipment

The farmers, in addition to the losses suffered by their productions, also saw their agricultural equipment affected. Damaged agricultural tractors, combines, irrigation reels and hoses, as well as pipelines, have been “buried” under tons of mud.

“Many tractors have been damaged and need immediate repair in order to be able to catch up with this year’s harvest and also to “prepare” the fields for the next growing year,” said the professor of Agriculture.

Also, some quantities of grain have been destroyed since they were stored in silos, since it was “traditionally” sent to the market in September when their price usually rises.

Road network

The rural road network could not have been left unscathed as many roads were found under water, covered by drifting materials and debris.

According to Mr. Bilakis, this is where the biggest problem can be found “because in order to harvest your produce you must be able to go to the field”.

A typical example is that of Zagora, where the local cooperative that produces the apples of the same name, in the past few days appealed to the authorities to proceed with the opening of new roads as “the internal rural road network is completely damaged and this is a crucial issue in view of the apple harvest season but also brown”, as he states in his statement. In addition to harvesting the crop, the damage to trees and crops in general should also be recorded.

The lands

There was a lot of talk in the previous period about the degradation of the quality of the soils due to the transport of imported materials. According to the ELGO-DIMITRA updates, the areas that have simply been flooded will be able to be cultivated immediately after their drainage, while those that have been mixed with transported materials (especially in flat zones) will be cultivable under conditions.

In this direction, ELGO-DIMITRA is committed to offering the necessary scientific solutions that will contribute to the sustainable development of the region. “The lands in sloping areas where the water left with force, carried away with it a large part of fertile lands, thus degrading its quality, but there were no crops there,” Mr. Bilalis told APE-MPE and added “in the lowlands this is not a matter of fertility. The issue is the immediate removal of the portable materials (stones, wood, etc.). Many of the fields have received large amounts of soil but it is not something we are concerned about. On the contrary, it will contribute to the increase of fertility rather than to their degradation.”

“Fake news” that food will increase

Reports that there have already been nationwide price hikes in vegetables caused a lot of trouble. “Anyone can do what they want” underlines Mr. Bilalis and explains “the main product is wheat. The fields had already been harvested, while if some damages were caused, they were located in silos that had stored quantities, which reach a maximum of a few thousand tons. The price of wheat is globalized.”

A few increases may cause problems with the road network for the apples of Zagora, while with regard to the vegetables that reach Attica, they usually come from Thebes etc. Why should they increase?” write down.

As far as Greek meat is concerned, it is estimated that an increase will be observed as “great damages have been caused to animal feed units and also animal feed, which has the effect of increasing production costs”.

On the same issue, the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food issued a statement in which it underlined that any price increase in fruit and vegetables is considered unthinkable.

According to data from ELGA’s information systems, the total production of fruit and vegetable products in the country is 371,000 acres, of which 7.5% or 28,000 acres are cultivated in the area of ​​Thessaly and few of them have been affected.

“Any increase in fruit and vegetable prices can only be characterized as a clear profit at the expense of consumers. And as such it will be dealt with by the government” underlined the HYPAAT.