Fire in Attica: Region's farmers in dire straits

The inferno that has ravaged northeastern Attica has dealt the latest blow to food production already decimated by a dry winter, leaving farmers and food producers in the region desperate.

Prices at food markets are expected to “will fall”when demand starts to pick up with the return of the August holidays. Affected farmers are asking for immediate compensation payments to help them resume food production as quickly as possible.

“Our business has been completely destroyed. We are talking about a greenhouse farm of 1 hectare, and the rest of the infrastructure has also been destroyed. We are talking about burnt refrigerators, cars, an irrigation network and damaged crops in the open ground,” – zsaid Alekos Varsos, president of the agricultural association “Marathon”, this morning. He continued: “The damage is enormous. The restoration of this enterprise requires more than 300,000 euros. The victims must begin the process of dismantling all the damaged structures and then building everything from scratch. If, of course, he gets financial support and assistance from the state so that he can start rebuilding his business. We have huge destruction in open fields too.”

Considering that the enterprises in Marathon produce such products as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants 365 days a year, a huge problem of product shortage on the market may arise.

“As for the shortages, there was already a relative shortage of produce due to adverse weather conditions, water and labour shortages, and then there was the devastating fire which added to the problems. At the food markets we try to keep prices as low as we can because we work for the middle class and the poor, – said Varsos. – We have huge disasters in the open fields, at Marathon and at Barnabas, with crops and irrigation networks burned.”

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