Greece: Farmers give potatoes away at cost price
This comes after hundreds of people turned up to buy potatoes at massively reduced prices as they were sold to consumers at the cost of production. The event was part of farmers' protests against the paltry amounts they say they are offered by exploitative middlemen.
People have been lining up in cars, bicycles, on foot and on scooters to collect bags of spuds from a truck in the car park of the local courthouse.
The farmers say that whilst it costs them 20 cents to produce one kg of potatoes, the wholesalers will only buy them for 10-12 cents per kg.They say that, faced with such a loss, it is not even possible for them to get thier produce to market.
The local population has taken delight in cheap produce, in the middle of the financial crisis that has seen more and more people going short of food. Faced with an ever deepening recession, some local groups have begun coming up with novel ways to beat the financial crunch.
Ilias Tsolakidis, 54, part of a volunteer group in northern Greece, said he contacted a potato farmer in northern Greece last week and posted an advertisement on the internet offering consumers the chance to order directly from the producer at cost price. He was overwhelmed by the response: by Wednesday, all 24 tons of potatoes on offer had been sold, with 534 families putting in orders.
His motive, Tsolakidis said, was “to cover a financial gap in the family budget. You know, the situation in the financial crisis has become very difficult. We help producers (from the local area) on the one hand, and also the families of consumers.’’
Kiki Pantelopoulou couldn’t agree more.
“I didn’t only do this because it’s in my interest,’’ said the 42-year-old as she loaded a sack of potatoes onto her bicycle. “My main concern is how to stop this situation. This way, we favour Greek products and therefore producers can at least make the cost price.’’
Tsolakidis said that with demand so high, his group of volunteers would set up another sale next weekend, buying another 24 tons of potatoes from a different farmer this time.
Source: articles.boston.com
