With GPS chips, which look like olives and are placed on the trees, agricultural organizations and producers in Crete are trying to deal with the repeated incidents of theft that have been observed in recent years and are related not only to the fruit on the trees, but also to the stored olive oil.

As the vice-president of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Heraklion, Myros Chiletzakis, told APE-MPE, this is an effort that was successfully implemented in 2019 in Spain and which, in the test phase that preceded it in the previous period in Crete, also showed satisfactory results.

“The Spanish found this solution in 2019, in a year when their production reached 2 million tons. The olive oil then became the target of scoundrels who either came at night and beat the laden trees, or even worse, cut large branches that were laden with fruit, took them to warehouses and beat them there, with all that this can entail for the production process of the olive trees ” said Mr. Chiletzakis, who noted that the olive fruit effigies on the trees are a very dynamic solution, based on the protection of olive oil.

In addition, as Mr. Chiletzakis said recently the Union of Heraklion procured from abroad four GPS chips, olive tree effigieswhich have given very good results and indeed not only as a protection of the olive fruit on the olive trees, but also of the olive oil stored in containers.

“It is a mock-up of an olive fruit that hangs on the tree and does not seem to differ from any other fruit. This it connects via an app to mobile phones and when the dummy moves three or four meters away from the tree, a message is sent, so someone has removed it. In fact, we are processing a proposal from a company for an application that will show us all the traceability, the entire course of the GPS. From where and at what time did it detach from the tree, where did it move and where did it end up” said the vice-president of EASI, who added that the test has already been done in Crete, the waterproof chip – as he pointed out – should do the same work and inside containers of olive oil, which are often prey for would-be criminals.

The interest, as Mr. Chiletzakis explained, is intense from producers in Crete, while the effort being made is “for the GPS chips to arrive in Crete in the next period and cover this year’s olive growing season as well” since the phenomena of olive fruit theft, since the years of the financial crisis and since then, they have multiplied as he noted.

“Olive oil must be protected in every way. Cases of theft have increased after the financial crisis and especially now that oil is “golden” due to its price. It is observed that producers in Crete, in years with a large harvest, stay whole nights in their properties in order not to steal their fruit. Don’t forget that at this time 100 kilos of oil cost 1,000 euros”.

At this stage, as Mr. Chiletzakis said, what is being investigated is how many chips per club or cooperative Crete will need, in order to determine the final cost, since this is directly linked to the quantity of GPS that the order will include.