Αlmost 70% of Thessaly’s cotton crop is estimated to have been damaged by storm Daniel, with production in the region expected to be reduced by at least 50-60%, which in turn will affect Greece’s overall cotton production by 15-20%, a senior researcher at a cotton quality control centre in central Greece said on Saturday.
Of the 250,000 hectares cultivated throughout the country, approximately 80,000 (32%) are located in Thessaly. Of those 80,000 hectares, approximately 41,000 are cultivated in the regional unit of Karditsa, 27,000 in Larissa, 9,300 in the regional unit of Trikala and approximately 3,700 in Magnesia.
“Severe weather damage finds the cotton crop quite late, due to previous weather conditions. A large percentage of the bolls have not yet opened, which means that depending on the duration and height of the water covering the crop, in addition to the immediate damage, a large percentage of the bolls will hardly open or it won’t have a normal opening,” Dr Mohammed Darawsheh, Senior Researcher at the National Center of Classification and Standardization of Cotton in Karditsa told state-run AMNA news agency.
He said that this year, along with the damage from the bad weather, “there will be an additional negative factor which will negatively affect the future of cotton cultivation” in Greece, in combination with the increased production costs, the increased demand that exist in the market and the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Approximately 20 ginning plants operate in Thessaly, a large number of which have suffered major damage to their infrastructure and equipment, Dr Darawsheh said. “There may be a big loss in stored ginned cotton from the previous ginning season,” he told AMNA.