The “Reverse Agriculture” project, a new integrated digital transformation initiative to strengthen Greek agri-food and the international presence of Greek products, was presented today, Tuesday 19 May, by the Ministers of Rural Development and Food Margaritis Schinas and Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Dimitris Papastergiou.
With funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” and the Public Investment Programme, amounting to €25.48 million plus VAT, and implemented by the Information Society (ITS) of the Ministry of Digital Governance and AI, the project creates a modern digital ecosystem for the production, exports and international promotion of Greek agri-food products.
The aim is to use technology to support the producer, enhance the competitiveness of Greek agri-food, facilitate exports, increase market transparency and deal more effectively with Greek imports.
With “Outward Oriented Agriculture”, new information systems and digital services are being developed to enhance the extroversion of Greek production, using data, interoperability and modern analysis tools.
A characteristic example is the upgrade of the export trade platform “Easy Agro Expo” to support Greek export enterprises, as well as the creation of the multilingual digital portal “Greek Farms” for the international promotion of Greek products, producers and regions.
At the same time, the project significantly enhances market control and monitoring capabilities through import and intra-Community trade data management systems, interoperable with European systems such as “TRACES”. In this way, new digital tools are created that allow for better recording of the balance of Greek products, what is produced, what is imported and what is traded in the market, contributing substantially to the fight against Greek imports and the protection of producers.
During his speech, Minister of Rural Development and Food Margaritis Schinas highlighted the need to change the way the state treats the primary sector, stressing that Greece already has all the comparative advantages to play a leading role internationally. As he stressed, “extroversion is built when the producer believes in his product, when he cooperates, when he invests in quality and when the entrepreneur understands the effort and the agony of the producer. There is interest in Greek products. There is recognition of their quality and authenticity. There is respect for the Mediterranean diet, for the 121 Greek products POP and PGI, for the way the Greek land is linked to history, culture and quality. The challenge now is to turn these advantages into an organized national strategy of extroversion that will create more added value for producers and the Greek economy. With “Extroverted Agriculture” we are investing in a new operating model where technology, data and transparency enhance market credibility and protect the authenticity of Greek products. We want the Greek producer to have better tools, better access to markets and a stronger position against international competition.”
Dimitris Papastergiou, Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence, stressed that technology can be an essential tool to support agricultural production and extroversion through data, interoperability and modern digital infrastructure.
Dimitris Papastergiou, Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence, said among other things:“Technology is obviously now an integral part of agricultural policy. A few months ago we committed ourselves to taking initiatives to put a brake on illegal imports of products, especially those with a strong export character. We come today to present the first of the measures we have announced, which is the development of a business intelligence system in order to exploit the data and create production balances. That is, algorithms for estimating the production of products and an interface with the AADE so that through MyData sales data can be recorded. The aim is that the system in full operation will know per VAT number what is imported, what is exported, what is produced and what is sold in the local market. At the same time, with the new farmers’ register we can have a more complete picture of the farmer’s profile, protecting the struggle of those who really want to stay in the field, compared to those who want to stay in the field.
The event was also attended by Information Society CEO Stavros Asthenidis, Vodafone Greece President and CEO Achilleas Kanaris, SEV President and CEO of Bespoke-SGA Holdings A.E. Spyros Theodoropoulos, the CEO of Melissa Kikizas S.A. Food Alexandros Kikizas, the President and CEO of Collectives S.A. Vangelis Poris and the chef and catering entrepreneur Manolis Papoutsakis.
