NAXOS, Greece — On his bougainvillea-covered farm on the
Greek island of Naxos, Yannis
Karganis milks his sheep, wondering anxiously how he will cope with soaring
costs and keep his cheesemaking business afloat.
اضافة اعلان
After the war in
Ukraine sparked an inflationary spiral in the price of cereals, fuel, and other
goods, farmers on Naxos and across the country have been left fearing for their
survival.
“I earn nothing
from my cheeses,” says the septuagenarian, who makes Naxos graviera, a hard
yellow cheese popular throughout Greece and beyond.
“I work day and
night and despite this, I still cannot live.”
Inflation in Greece
rose to 12 percent in September before dropping to 9.1 percent in October.
Even though the
government announced nearly 280 million euros ($291 million) in support benefits
for young farmers earlier this year, there is still heavy pressure on the
country’s agricultural sector, which employs 11 percent of the workforce.
“Last year, a bag
of feed cost 14 euros. This year it’s 21 euros. Gasoline has skyrocketed to
2.30 euros per liter at the moment,” the greying Karganis sighs, stirring a
large cauldron to make cheese in his small kitchen.
Throughout the
country, social pressure is rising in the face of soaring energy prices.
In November, a
general strike on the issue paralyzed Greece.
Dimitris Kapounis,
head of the union of Naxos agricultural cooperatives, warns that if nothing
changes “in the medium term, there will be no more milk on the Greek market, no
meat, potatoes, or anything else.”
Naxos graviera —
made from 80 percent cow’s milk and 20 percent sheep or goat’s milk — is one of
Greece’s most popular cheeses.
The Greeks like it
sprinkled on pasta, fried, or as a table cheese.
But even carrying
the vaunted European Protected Designation of Origin label, and exporting to a
dozen countries including the US and Germany, has not helped stem the slide in
output as costs ramp up.
This year, the
usual annual production of more than 1,250 tonnes has already fallen by 130
tonnes, the cooperative said.
Lack of milk
The squeeze on animal feed and fuel has resulted in a fall in milk
production, explains local shepherd Yannis Vavoulas.
“We can’t maintain
feeding them properly,” the 42-year-old says. “We feed them two or three times
(a day) with little food,” which means the animals produce less milk.
The crisis is so
acute that some farmers have had to slaughter part of their herd, further
reducing milk production.
Yorgos Margaritis,
who owns 250 cows, is one of the local farmers to have already made this
painful decision.
He gestures to some
of his nearby animals which he says would normally have been inseminated by now
for producing calves.
“(Instead), they
will be slaughtered,” he says.
The cost of
transporting goods from the Greek mainland is also becoming prohibitive — it
takes more than five hours by boat to get from the main Greek port of Piraeus
to Naxos.
In an act of
desperation, the Naxos cooperative in April went as far as neighboring Bulgaria
to buy animal feed, where prices are lower.
“If the milk
producers are not helped... then we are all lost,” warns Yannis Kavouras, head
of the largest cheese factory in Naxos.
And as the
EU’s
protected status regulations permit only the use of local milk, shipping it in
from elsewhere is not an option either.
“If the producers don’t bring any more milk, what am I going
to use — water?” wonders Kavouras.
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