Serious lack of workhands on strawberry farms

The governor of Western Greece, Nektarios Farmakis in a letter to the co-responsible ministers is asking for a change in the method for calculating necessary land workers and arable land in order to solve the problem of lack of workhands for strawberry farms in the region.

Since, recently there has been a serious shortage of workers which is expected to become more acute in the near future prompted Mr. Farmakis to write the letter.

In his plea, Mr. Farmakis also refers to the labor intensity needed for the peak of the strawberry harvest (in the spring), but also to the important work carried out every autumn for the construction, maintenance and repair of greenhouses, the supply and planting of propagating material and other cultivation needs.

Proposed changes in calculating necessary workforce

Specifically, Mr. Farmakis proposed that the competent services that control the requests of growers, do not calculate the number of workers per hectare with projected indicators of Human Work Units (HWU) noting that current methods do not take into account the seasonality of the cultivation, for peak of the harvest in March – May, which requires about 7 workers per hectare.

Given the above ratio, the issue of housing of foreign land workers should also be taken into account.