Tomato producers are in despair: tens of tons of product will go to landfill

Indicative of the current situation is the fact that tons of tomatoes from Ierapetra ended up in a landfill.

After Easter, the demand for greenhouse tomatoes and mini-cucumbers in Crete dropped to almost zero. As a result, at horticultural auctions, commercial establishments and growers' warehouses Dozens of tons of products remain unsold, which, due to high temperatures, cannot be stored for many days outside of refrigerators.

Thus, part of the products that will not be in demand by social structures ends up in licensed processing enterprises, as well as livestock enterprises, since their owners often do not have the opportunity to purchase feed.

As Georgios Karalakis, president of the agricultural cooperative-producer group Anatoli, explained, in the agricultural market The five-day closure over Easter had a negative impact.

“The consumer has no more money after spending enough money on lamb and in general on the Easter table and gifts for children. Now he buys only essential goods. The week after the Easter holidays is always difficult, especially this year when the holidays fell in May,” he said characteristically.

“Our market has also come under pressure because other regions of Central and Northern Greece have also started producing and supplying products to the market as the season approaches. Here in Ierapetra there was no winter at all this year. Competitors are nipping at their heels. There are additional imports from third countries. But consumers are very sluggish in their purchases as prices on the shelves are still high.” Mr. Karalakis noted that tomato harvest volumes are now large and consumption has fallen.

“In recent days, a large number of tomatoes have been thrown away, given away and confiscated from all auctions and commercial enterprises. Some traders even decided not to purchase tomatoes from producers, since they cannot sell their products in the markets,” the president of the agricultural partnership emphasized in this regard. And in conclusion he noted: “We are open to all social structures, such as large families, nursing homes, public grocery stores, churches, etc. We can offer you our products for free. We do this all year round, not just now. We support everyone in need.”

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