“Krystalli pear exports are still a month away, and yet packers are already offering growers a 30% higher price”

The new pear season has already been underway for a week in Greece. The pears harvested so far are of the Kontoula variety, which are intended for the domestic market. “The crop is of high quality, and the pears are blemish-free. Although the crop has decreased by about 20–30%, Kontoula pears are rather large for their standards,” states Mr. Kostas Chatzis, president of the agricultural cooperative AS Argiropouli. As he says, “Packers are paying individual growers €1,50 per kg for the harvested fruit. However, cooperatives like ours are paying their members €2,00 per kg.”

Kontoula is the earliest Greek pear variety, known for its small size and distinctive shape.

Greek pear exports are about to begin. “The export season starts with the Kosia variety. They will be ripe enough to be harvested in a week. There is a production decrease, though not a significant one for this variety. On the contrary, Santa Maria pears, which will be ready in about 15–20 days, are suffering from a major drop in production. Yields are expected to be down by around 70%. It seems that all these pears will start the season with high prices,” says Mr. Chatzis.

However, the most interesting part of the season is yet to come, as it is linked to the Krystalli variety—the most important pear variety in Greece. As the cooperative executive notes, “Krystalli will hit the shelves during the first ten days of August. The crop will be reduced by 40% or even 50%. Even though harvesting is still some time away, packers are already touring farms in order to secure supply, offering growers a 30% higher price compared to last season. We hear prices around €0,80–1,00 per kg. If you manage to produce 30–40 tons per hectare, that’s a good income.”

Finally, the talk of the town among Greek growers—and the Greek public in general—these past few weeks has been the huge scandal involving the distribution of illegal subsidies worth millions of euros to fake farmers. The scandal implicates numerous executives of the agricultural subsidies organization (OPEKEPE), members of parliament, and two former agricultural ministers of the ruling party.

The president of the Greek cooperative comments: “Behind this scandal lie the CAP policies and the long-standing method of distributing subsidies not based on each farmer’s production, but on the land declared. This opened the door to fake farmers. This is why we were receiving less money each year—because a portion of the total budget was going to them. After a series of bad seasons, every single wasted euro counts. Therefore, we demand that the funds for the European forfeit not be deducted from the budget we are entitled to, but instead recovered from all those implicated in this scandal.”

For more information:
Kostas Chatzis
AS Argiropouli
Tel: +30 249 204 1034, +30 249 204 1043
Email: agro27@otenet.gr