The failure to implement a regionalization system, as requested by several scholars, appears to favor inequalities.
With much fanfare, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food announced the long-awaited call for the new organic farming and livestock program, which will last for three years. However, a closer reading of the call for proposals shows that the new program is expected—like its predecessor in 2017—to create injustices and inequalities in the sector.
For example, it is obvious that the new program is unfair to those who have small agricultural or livestock farms, which is the largest segment of the sector in Greece. The points system appears to be even more unfair to producers (farmers and livestock breeders) in the Greek islands. For example, one might easily ask how an olive producer in Chios, Lesbos, or even Crete, include 100 acres of olive trees in the program in order to have a guaranteed chance of inclusion, when the average plot size is around 30 acres?;
Also, Producers from areas where animal feed cannot be produced (islands) will have a problem with their integration.. This is because, for example, a farmer from an island with 100 sheep received 90 acres of pastureland through a technical solution, while a farmer from mainland Greece received 120 acres of pastureland with the same number of animals, based on the grazing densities of OPEKEPE. 120 acres of pastureland, based on the grazing densities of... OPEKEPE.
It should be noted that, by definition, producers from areas with ecological problems (e.g., Natura zones) should also be considered favored.
All these issues would be resolved if regionalization were implemented, i.e., scoring based on inclusion per region rather than per country, say researchers, noting that as the program is currently structured, entire regions are at risk of being left without any inclusion.
