“This is not a rise in prices, but a restoration of the price that producers must receive in order to be able to produce,” he pointed out. President of EDOK (National Interprofessional Meat Organisation) Eleftherios Gitsas referring to selling prices for meat. As he noted, the goal of the EATER is to return his job as a profession choice within three years. breeder. But it’s impossible for that to happen. kilogram of meat cost less than coffee.

The main disadvantage of Greek sheep and goat farming is the fact that it is completely focused on milk production. In summer, when 70% of the meat is consumed through tourism, there is none. Greek lambs resulting in large imports. “We are the only country in the world where all of our production animals are dedicated to dairy products.”

At the same time, Greek breeds that could be used for meat production tend to almost completely disappear. “Traditionally, we consume small lambs and goats, the so-called dairy goats, at certain times of the year. However, for public catering and tourism, we need large animals over 20 kg, which we can grow,” said Mr. Gitsas.

In practice, this means that we should proceed to the genetic improvement of animals, and not to the fact that they often interbreed through inbreeding. Typically, the average production of meat per sheep/goat in Greece is 6.9 kg, while the average production of French or German meat sheep is 34.5 kg and 33.4 kg respectively.

Data on the consumption of mutton and goat meat in Greece (Eurostat) show a very low consumption of 4.7 kg per person. However, these figures come from butcher shop sales, while in recent years Greeks have been consuming more sheep and goat meat through restaurants. It is characteristic that in 2010 in Attica there were only 39 catering establishments with lamb on the menu, and in 2021 the number of such establishments reached 490.

The largest amount of sheep and goat meat used in catering comes from New Zealand, which is the largest producer of lamb in the world.

Greece is currently very dependent on imports, mainly meat and eggs. “It is characteristic that out of the total volume of food imports for the five-year period 2015-2019. about 20% came from meat imports totaling 5.5 billion euros,” said Mr. Gitsas.