Markos Bolaris’ visit to our factory

The need to support the industrial tomato sector, as part of the general policy to support agricultural production, was pointed out by the Deputy Minister of Rural Development, Markos Bolaris, during his visit to Ilia on Tuesday, July 19, 2016.

In the visit of the Minister to the factory of the HELLENIC CANNING COMPANY SA KYKNOS, in the presence of Deputy Governor Panagiotis Bramos and the SYRIZA MPs Efi Saltaris-Georgopoulou and Dimitris Baxevanakis, the Secretary General of SYRIZA NE Ilias Takis Georgopoulos, the secretary of Victoria Kallinis and the presidents of cooperatives ILIA’ KIPOS, Yiannis Arvanitakis and Horticulture of Ilia, Christos Valianatos, was informed by the Managing Director of KYKNOS Giorgos Manousakis in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture, agronomist Nikos Katsanakis and the Minister of Agriculture of Savalia Anna Bougonikoulos, about the issues that concern the industrial tomato sector, with the aim of increasing its cultivation in the Western Peloponnese region and improving the competitiveness of the produced products.

The following topics were discussed:
REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE 1. Road axes/connection with national axes of Corinth and Tripoli 2. Lack of container loading facilities at the ports [Patra-Katakolo-Kalamata] 3. Interconnection with natural gas 4. Lack of railway network 5. Management of irrigation water from the Pinios dam.

SPECIAL ISSUES OF INDUSTRIAL TOMATO 1. Ensuring a minimum hectare linked support within the framework of 2015 and forecasting total hectare cultivation throughout the Greek territory, staggered until 2020. 2. Revision of the distribution regime of dried lake lands [Agoulinitsa – Mourios-Kasta] in view of the expiry of the current one regime.

Afterwards, the Minister and all those present were informed about the HELLENIC CANNING COMPANY SA KYKNOS by George Manousakis and were given a tour of the factory premises. Concluding the presentation of the company, Giorgos Manousakis thanked the Minister as well as all those present for their visit to the KYKNOS company, noting that it is the first time that a Minister has visited the factory, hoping that it will be understood by the development of our country's economy, the importance of food processing in collaboration with the primary sector.