GREECE GREEK STRATEGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF FARM ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES COUNTRY REPORT FOR SoW-AnGR 2003 ABBREVIATIONS AnGR Animal Genetic Resources DAD-IS Domestic Animal Diversity Information System EAAP European Association for Animal Production FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FP Focal Point NA Non Applicable ΝΙ Νο Information NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations PGR Plant Genetic Resources RBI Rare Breeds International SAVE Safeguard for Agricultural Varieties in Europe SoW-AnGR State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources 2 CONTENTS FIRST PART....................................................................................................4 THE STATE OF AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY IN THE FARM ANIMAL SECTOR OF THE COUNTRY .........................................................................4 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCING THE COUNTRY ..........................................5 CHAPTER 2. PRODUCTION SYSTEMS ...................................................12 2.1 Primary Animal Production Systems in Greece......................12 2.2 Most important Animal and secondary Products ...................20 CHAPTER 3. THE STATE OF GENETIC DIVERSITY...............................24 CHAPTER 4. THE STATE OF UTILIZATION OF AnGR ............................31 4.1 The State of Use of AnGR ..............................................................31 4.2 The development of AnGR.............................................................31 4.3 Obstacles, Opportunities, and Needs for Use and Development of AnGR by Species .............................................................................37 CHAPTER 5. THE STATE OF THE CONSERVATION OF AnGR .............39 5.1 Conservation Issues.......................................................................39 CHAPTER 6. THE STATE OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR AnGR......................................43 6.1 Questions on Policy Development and Institutional Arrangements .......................................................................................43 6.2. The legislative framework in Greece............................................45 SECOND PART.............................................................................................49 NATIONAL STRATEGIES AND CAPACITIES, FUTURE NEEDS, PRIORITIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENHANCED INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION IN THE FIELD OF ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION ..................................49 CHAPTER 7. ANALYZING THE CHANGING DEMANDS ON NATIONAL LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE NATIONAL POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PROGRAMMES RELATED TO AnGR .........................................................................................................50 7.1 Reviewing past policies, strategies, programmes, and management practices (as related to AnGR) .....................................50 7.2 Outlining future national policy, strategy and management plans for the conservation, use and development of AnGR .......................51 CHAPTER 8. REVIEWING THE STATE OF NATIONAL CAPACITIES AND ASSESSING FUTURE CAPACITY BUILDING REQUIREMENTS.............52 8.1 Assessment of national capacities ...............................................52 CHAPTER 9. IDENTIFYING NATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR THE CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION OF AnGR.......................................54 9.1 National cross-cutting priorities...............................................54 CHAPTER 10. FORMULATING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENHANCED INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION ..........................................................56 10.1 Recommendations........................................................................56 10.2 Institutions ....................................................................................57 10.3 Evaluation of the realization progress........................................58 CHAPTER 11. ANNEX...............................................................................59 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................60 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................60 REFERENCES...........................................................................................64 3 FIRST PART THE STATE OF AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY IN THE FARM ANIMAL SECTOR OF THE COUNTRY 4 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCING THE COUNTRY Location and size of the country + a map Hellas / Greece is a European country. It is located in the eastern side of the Mediterranean basin between the Aegean and Ionian Sea, being the southern-most part of the Balkan peninsula. It covers an area of 131.944 sq. km., of which 106,777 represent its continental mainland and 25.166 its islandic part. The coastline of Greece sums up to 13.676 km. Greece extends from 34 48 'N to 41 45’ N geographic latitude, and from 19 22' E to 29 38’ E geographic longitude. Border countries and the respective borderline in km are: Albania 282 , The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 246 , Bulgaria 494 and Turkey 206. Map of Greece Geographical and climatic features Hellas is generally characterized as mountainous, having an average elevation of 502 m. above sea level, and presenting more than 40 mountains peaks higher than 2,000 m. Only 33% of its area is lower than 200 m. in altitude. The remaining 67% is semi-mountainous or mountainous. The continental mainland part is crossed from north to south by the Pindosmountain range, which is regarded as the southern branch of the central European Alps. The highest peak in Greece is mount Olympus, 2,917 m. high, reknown in Ancient Greece as the home of Gods. 5 Main factors affecting the climatic types of Greece are the influence of the Atlantic Ocean and the Asiatic continent, the profile of the land and the vicinity and continuous alternation of land and sea. These factors are causing climatic differences between neighbouring regions of a scale encountered only in few parts of the world. The climate of Hellas belongs to the «Mediterranean» type, being characterized by rains during autumn, winter and spring, and drought accompanied by high temperatures in the summer. The most prevailing climate types are the following: • Mediterranean - Continental: Thessaly - plateaux of West Macedonia, Central Peloponnese • Humid and Cold Mediterranean: Central and Eastern Macedonia, Thrace • Marine Mediterranean: Eptanisa, shores of Epirus, Western Sterea Hellas, regions of Western Peloponnese, SW Crete • Dry Mediterranean: Attica, Eastern Peloponnese • Dry hot Mediterranean: Cyclades Islands and Eastern Crete • Hot humid (in the winter) Mediterranean: Dodekanese Islands • Alpine climate in all the mountainous regions The Pindos mountain range has a major impact on the climate of the country; It prevents the humid western and south-western winds from reaching the eastern part of the country, so western Greece has 800-1200 mm rain each year when eastern Greece has up to 700. In the same time, Pindos prevents the cold (and occasionally humid or dry) north-eastern winds to reach the western Greece. Consequently the regions of western Greece have 1-3 degrees higher temperatures per year from their respective eastern regions, as well as at least 50% less days of snow. Human population and trends According to figures from the last nationwide census Greece’s population in 2002 comprised 10,645,343 inhabitants. A 14,8% of the inhabitants was 0-14 years, a 67,1% of the inhabitants was 15-64 years and the rest 18,1% were more than 65 years old. Population growth rate was 0.2%, birth rate was 9.82 births/1,000 population and death rate 9.79 deaths/1,000 population. Net migration rate was 1.96 migrant(s)/1,000 population, average life expectancy at birth 78.74 years and total fertility rate was 1.34 children born/woman. The most predominant religion is Greek Orthodox (98%), Muslims are 1.3% and 0.7 belong to other confessions. The official language in the country is Greek and literacy rate is 97%. General description of the agricultural sector The value of livestock production, according to the official statistics, is represented in Table 1.1. 6 From a total of 13.2 million ha of the total land area of the country, the area given over to agriculture constitutes 9.1 million ha and the area covered by forests 2.9 million ha. Of the land used for agriculture, 3.9 million ha are cultivable and 5.2 million ha are pastureland. About 0.5 million ha of the cultivable land are left fallow every year. Of the cultivable land, 56% is located in areas of plain while the remainder is in mountainous or semi-mountainous districts. One third of the cultivable land is irrigated. Table 1.1 Importance of livestock to the gross domestic product in agriculture (millions of $US) Activity $US (m illions) Data from Year Livestock production (official statistics) $3.278 2000 Total agricultural production (official statistics) $13.241 2000 Out of the total of all the cultivated land, 65% is under arable cultivation, 3.6% given over to vegetables, 4.1% to vineyards and 27% to plantations of trees (Table 1.2). Table 1.2 Land use and current trends (1000 ha) Area (1000 ha) Category 1999 Arable land 2387 Permanent crops 1100 Permanent pastures 5280 Agricultural area 3852 Total Area 12619 From the total land area used for livestock production, only 17% belongs to private owners, while 83% is owned by the government and the local communities (Table1.3). Table 1.3 Land tenure for livestock production Category Area in % Private 17