On his bougainvillaea-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.
After Russia’s 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,” said the septuagenarian, who makes Naxos graviera, a hard yellow cheese popular throughout Greece and beyond.
Photo: AFP
“I work day and night and despite this, I still cannot live,” he said.
Inflation in Greece rose to 12 percent in September before dropping to 9.1 percent last month. Even though the government announced nearly 280 million euros (US$291.9 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,” Karganis said, stirring a large cauldron to make cheese in his small kitchen.
Photo: AFP
Throughout the country, social pressure is rising in the face of soaring energy prices. This month, a general strike on the issue paralyzed Greece.
Dimitris Kapounis, head of the union of Naxos agricultural cooperatives, said 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. Greeks like it sprinkled on pasta, fried or as a table cheese.
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 1,134 tonnes has already fallen by 118 tonnes, the cooperative said.
The squeeze on animal feed and fuel has resulted in a fall in milk production, local shepherd Yannis Vavoulas said.
“We can’t maintain feeding them properly,” the 42-year-old said.
“We feed them two or three times [a day] with little food,” which means the animals produce less milk, he said.
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 pointed to some of his nearby animals which he said would normally have been inseminated by now for producing calves.
Instead, “they will be slaughtered,” he said.
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,” said Yannis Kavouras, head of the largest cheese factory in Naxos.
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?” Kavouras asked.
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