“As a government, as a state and as the Ministry of Rural Development, we are called to face very bravely, very dynamically and very directly what has happened in the Thessalian plain”.

This he emphasized, among other things, the Minister of Rural Development, Lefteris Avgenakis, speaking at the conference on regional development, ‘Olympia Forum IV’, organized by the Economic Forum of Delphi and the newspaper ‘Patris’, at the premises of the International Olympic Academy, in Ancient Olympia.

As he added, “we moved quickly and will be in full action in the next 24 hours, so that we can cover all the needs for a quick inventory and recording of the damage and of course the service of the flood victims”.

With regard to livestock, Lefteris Avgenakis said that “we have a great disaster, but we are moving step by step at all levels, so that we can respond quickly, with the result that in the last ten days of October we will be able to give the advances».

Regarding plant capital, he stated that “there is a delay on the part of those affected in submitting statements” and appealed to them to proceed with the statements.

Furthermore, Lefteris Avgenakis underlined that “I want to send a message”, on the occasion of, as he said, irregularities and continued: “At times like this we are not trying to win, but we are trying to help, that’s why we as a state make all the facilities, we are all of us above and beyond, but at the same time we will not accept irregularities”.

At the same time, he talked about “profiteering in fruit shops and street markets”since, as he said, “the prices of products, which are not grown in Thessaly, have skyrocketed”.

Regarding digitization, he said that “we have committed that by the end of the year we will have brought to the Parliament for a vote the new updated and modern operating regulation of ELGA”.

As he then explained, “the appraiser will be able to visit the field, having a computer with him, in order to identify exactly where damage has occurred, if he is insured, to record the damage and automatically both the appraiser and the farmer will know the amount of compensation”.

“Digitalization in the primary sector” he added, “is multiply useful both at the level of the economy and at the level of resource management”.

Regarding intelligent agriculture, he said that “it is a big program, which is being developed by the Ministry of Rural Development”, while he noted that “we are advocates of strengthening the professional farmer and creating sections of professional farmers in the chambers of the country”.

Already, as he added, “we have started a collaboration with the president of the central association of chambers”, while referring to the sections of professional farmers, he pointed out that “these will help to acquire new knowledge, because the greatest advantage of the farmer is training and education” .

“As long as we are lagging behind in this, whatever subsidies fall into the market, it is certain”, continued Lefteris Avgenakis, “that they will not be used properly, that is why we are focusing on knowledge”.

Referring to its mode of operation OKAY he noted that “we are focused on the correct, safest and most transparent allocation of subsidies”.

“All this”, as he pointed out, “makes up a better and safer environment, so it also means attracting new people who will decide to deal with the primary sector, with professionalism and not just because they inherited an obligation, that is to cultivate their father’s fields ».

Also, the Minister of Rural Development underlined that “it is the Prime Minister’s commitment and mine, that by the end of the four-year we should have succeeded in creating at least 60,000 new jobs or new professional farmers.”

“For this reason”, he continued, “the first decision I made was to secure the money required to be able to give the ‘green light’ to all the runner-up young farmers of the last period, which were about 2,200, so that increased the number of young people who had applied to the ministry for the programs, but had not gathered a score”.

But, as he pointed out, “we gave them the right to participate and get a very brave first aid, which amounts to 30,000 to 40,000 euros and at the same time we also gave them a second right to participate in the following programs, which anyway open next period”.

He also said that “there will be an additional scoring for the programs that will be submitted and concern the areas that have been affected either by fires or floods”.