zeolite as a tool to support the EBZ – Nikos Lygeros
Sugar production is subject to the national quota regulation. Previously, before 2006, Greece was entitled to produce 317,000 tonnes. Under this framework, it is entitled to produce 158,000 tonnes of sugar, which corresponds to a typical sugar beet crop covering approximately 225,000 stremmata. Greece has closed two factories, in Xanthi and Larissa. The allocation of stremmata to the factories was as follows: Platy (125,000), Serres (50,000), Nea Orestiada (50,000). Under the 2013 regulation, the situation will change in 2017 and each EU Member State will be able to produce as much as it wishes within an international competitive framework. This situation has had a negative impact on producers, who no longer see any prospects, not even in the short term. And yet sugar beet is a high-yielding and efficient crop. In Central Europe, one stremma yields more than 1,200 kilograms of sugar. In Greece, production reaches 800 kg per stremma. At Nea Orestiada, over 38 years of operation, the EBZ achieved 1,000 kg of sugar per stremma in 10 harvest years. The conventional approach would be to seek subsidies to level the playing field. However, there is another solution, at least for the time being. We already have crops grown with zeolite in the region – garlic, beetroot and asparagus – and we have seen spectacular results. The time has therefore come to apply zeolite to sugar beet production in order to improve the quality and yield of sugar production. If this is implemented strategically, we will see a difference in the next harvest, and it will become clear what path we need to follow in this sector over the coming years, so that we can turn things around for 2017 as well. Let’s start now, whilst we still can.
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