The development, the present situation and the prospects of Greek agriculture

There is a general consensus that the future of the European agricultural sector faces greatinsecurity. However, while agricultural exodus continues to constitute, in many Southern EuropeanUnion regions, one of the most significant manifestations of agricultural occupational mobility, ruralexodus should not be taken for granted. A large part of the surplus of agricultural labour force isabsorbed locally due to economic decentralization and the concomitant development of nonagriculturalactivities, especially in the tertiary sector. The development of part-time farming and pluriactivityprovides supplementary income to the farm holder or to other family members. This has allowed thesurvival of small, non-viable holdings which could not have been sustained otherwise. However,traditional and often outdated production and cultivation systems, as well as trade methods, hinderagricultural sector growth. In Greece, these dynamics have caused a number of changes to theemployment structure of the active agricultural population, to agricultural income and to the country’sagricultural competitiveness. The last forty years have witnessed a decrease in the percentage of theactive agricultural population from 36% during the 60s to 10.5% in 2007, agricultural income has overtripled, the agricultural gross national product is 7.3% of the GNP of the country and although theagro-food trade balance is in deficit, the value of agricultural exports represents 19.6% of the totalexports of the country.