TOMATO ON THEIR FACES GREEKS FORCED TO CHANGE AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34046, 9 January 1976, Page 8

TOMATO ON THEIR FACES GREEKS FORCED TO CHANGE AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT

(By the Athens correspondent of the Sydney Morning Heraid ) (Reprinted by arrangement/

A dictatorship’s infatuation with tomatoes has left the (.reek Minister of Agriculture floundering in a sea of pulp. Also, an estimated 40 per cent of this year’s tomato crop has been left to rot because ot lack of demand. New measures have been announced, beginning with tomatoes which have been described here as introducing a “whiff of socialism into the country's agricultural management.

This year, the Minister of Agriculture, Ippokratis lordanoglou, told Parliament in reply to questions on the tomato situation, special licences will be issued for production of specified quantities in particular areas. Canning and pulping factories will have no obligation to accept tomatoes from unlicensed producers, nor will the state have any support commitment for such output.

Last year, Mr lordanoglou told Parliament, “things went badlv with tomatoes.” Some 10,000 tons of tomato pulp was produced surplus to apparent domestic and export demand, while the State had found it necessary to recompense producers of unsold crops at the rate of 70 lepta (about 2 U.S. cents) a kilo on an estimate of 24 tons an acre and “we don’t yet know where this story will end.” Intervening in the debate, a Communist deputy, Mr Haralambos Drakopoulos,

said it was all the fault of the ousted Greek dictatorship’s “adventurous” tomato policy, which had led to the foundation of 150 tomato processing factories and "an analogous turn of producers towards this crop.” That, he said, was why 40 per cent of the 1975 output had not been harvested. It is recalled here that the dictatorship governments did indeed go for tomatoes in a big way, partly because of their local popularity as a salad component but more as a means of supplying an expanding world demand for pulp. In the event, the low cost of Greek pulp, coupled with Italian competition, has been a continual source of problems between Greece and its Common Market partners. Fewer middlemen Looking beyond the tomato, the Minister of Agriculture told Parliament similar controls would be introduced ; for several other crops, in-; eluding rice and cotton. In addition, the co-operative-system of production and; marketing throughout agriculture would be strength-, ened. with a view to the! greatest possible elimination of middlemen.

For example, he said, cooperatives would be supplied with means such as refrigerated stores and pens, “for them to come into direct contact with the market, without the intervention of third persons.” Also, new areas of land made available for cultivation as a result of irrigation projects would be offered to co-operatives at rents equal only to the cost of maintenance of the drainage system. The Minister’s announcement of a crackdown on tomatoes and indications that similar measures are in the pipeline for cotton and rice — last year’s rice crop is provisionally estimated at 100,000 tons which will leave a 30,000-ton surplus that can be exported only if subsidised — followed a Government meeting, headed by the Prime Minister, Mr Karamanlis, to determine wider objectives of agricultural policy.

I The basic aim is to keep people on the land, halting a 'drift towards the urban (centres that has doubled the (population of Athens in the ipast 20 years, by ensuring an 'adequate income from farmling, without overburdening i the state budget through price support expenditures. Switching crops | It is also sought to switch cultivation towards products (easier to export, or best (suited to substitute import, while adapting price levels land merchandising methods 'to those applying in Common Market member states. The former will assist the balance of payments, while the latter implies an assault on the Greek middle-man system, which is blamed for differences sometimes going as ■ high as 400 per cent between the price paid to the pro--ducer and the retail price in (an Athens greengrocer. i The “carrot” of the cropI switch will include assistance Ito farmers in obtaining new (machinery and seed, and the (provision of expert advice. The “stick” will be wielded through the price-support 'mechanism. For this purpose, agricultural products have been diIvided into three main categories. Those whose production should be increased (include maize, barley, hard I wheat, leaf tobacco of exiport varieties, cotton, early I fruit and vegetables, strawberries, cherries and flowers. Listed as crops the production of which should be maintained at present levels are soft wheat, sugarbeet, lemons, sour cherries, dried figs, apricots, peaches, potatoes, table grapes, edible olives, and olive oil. Those whose production should be curtailed include rice, tomatoes, some grades of cotton and certain types of citrus, raisins, currants, and grapes for wine pressing. Successful implementation of this policy, it is believed, will put Greek agriculture on the right path towards facing the challenges of this country’s projected full membership of the Common Market.