Greece: Thousands of tons of potatoes are being wasted due to imports from Egypt.

In Greece, the village of Ano Vrontou, in the Serres region, is renowned for its high-quality potatoes, characterized by their unique flavor and grown at 1,160 meters above sea level. However, local farmers are facing a major crisis: more than 6,000 tons of these premium potatoes remain in storage, unable to find a market. Producers attribute this situation to increasing imports of cheaper potatoes from Egypt, which threaten their livelihoods.

Farmer Vassilis Michtsoglou speaks bitterly, expressing the helplessness they feel: "If the state is determined to wipe out Greek producers and dismantle the primary sector, let them do it. Let them ignore us completely. We’ll throw these potatoes away anyway, but not in a landfill. We’ll dump them in the street," he states resolutely.

The situation is unsustainable and has become a matter of survival for farmers. Dimitris Michtsoglou admits that many are considering abandoning the fields: “Everything is upside down. We can’t even pay off last year’s debts anymore. Now it’s not about planting, it’s about surviving. We practically give away our potatoes here, while in the supermarket they sell for three or four times their original price. Does it make any sense to keep planting? Why waste years of effort like this? There’s no other option. We give up and leave,” he laments.

Vassilis Papadopoulos, for his part, makes an urgent appeal to consumers to support local production instead of buying imported goods: “We buy Egyptian potatoes that are full of pesticides and are completely different. The toxic residues they contain are enormous. If we continue like this, it won’t be long before we disappear as an agricultural community. It is vital that people choose Greek and local products. This not only helps the regional economy but also the producers and the families who depend on this work to survive,” Papadopoulos concludes.