Greece to roman road

When it was the turn of Agriculture Minister Papanasitaos to speak, the minister’s face was terrifyingly gloomy, with a rich face and a stern expression: “As the Minister of Agriculture of Greece, I think we should pay attention to Greece’s agricultural issues.”

"The zero-tariff policy on agricultural products that has lasted for many years has caused foreign food to flood the Greek food market, whether it is Russian food, Congolese rice, and of course, new US food in recent years."

"The agricultural production conditions in these places are superior, or they have special systems. In contrast, the agricultural conditions in Greece are not good. Domestic farmers have no competitive advantage at all. Due to the meager profits from growing wheat, many farmers have switched to other crops. Crops"

“More and more farmers are converting their fields to olives, grapes, tobacco, cotton and other cash crops, especially cotton. Due to Greece’s developed cotton textile industry, the demand for cotton is increasing day by day, and the price of cotton is very attractive. power, most of the prime land that used to grow wheat is now cotton fields.”

"Greece's local food production capacity has been weakened beyond measure. If this situation is not taken seriously now, as time goes by, the situation of farmers giving up growing food will become more serious."

Having said this, Papanasitaos looked at his colleagues and asked: "In peaceful years, importing food from abroad is of high quality and low price, of course it is not a big deal, but once a war breaks out, or a major disaster breaks out, What will happen if Greece cannot buy enough food on the international market due to large-scale famines and other accidents? It is impossible for Greeks to fill their stomachs with cotton!"

In order to express his strong anxiety, Papanasitaos waved his hands while speaking.

Everyone in the conference room heard these remarks and discussed among themselves in low voices.

King George, who was sitting at the head of the table, had a look of embarrassment on his face: "Prime Minister, although the probability of a war or a major famine that would affect the international situation is not high, Greece's food security cannot rely entirely on luck. This zero-tariff policy on food , is it subject to discussion?”

Alexandros frowned, lost in thought, and remained silent. Obviously, he was also concerned about Papanasitaos' statement about food security.

Seeing the silence in the conference room, Constantine coughed and said: "First of all, Greece implements a zero-tariff policy on food. The purpose is very clear, which is to keep food prices at a low level, which can encourage population growth and at the same time also There is another purpose, which is to promote the development of industry. The low price of food is good for promoting industrial development. Those workers can buy food with less money."

"If the zero-tariff policy on food is abolished, then Greece's population encouragement policy will be affected. Families with more children will immediately be in trouble due to the increase in food prices. The rising food prices will offset the 50 Germans distributed by the government. Lakma’s welfare undermines people’s desire to have children.”

Constantine emphasized to everyone: "For Greece at present, the population issue is the most important and urgent. Encouraging population fertility is the core of all Greece's current policies. We should keep this in mind when making decisions. a little"

"Obviously, abolishing the zero-tariff policy on food violates this point."

"It is true that Greek farmers have paid a price for this, grain production has been affected, and Greece's domestic food security has been threatened, but this is a necessary price we pay to achieve our main goals."

"The situation in Europe is becoming increasingly unstable. Greece now needs more people to gain some advantages in the complex Balkans."

Papanasitaos said helplessly: "But how to solve the food security dilemma? Food security is not guaranteed. I'm afraid that the more population there is in Greece, the greater the trouble will be."

Constantine thought for a moment and said: "As for food security, first of all, it is not as serious as Papanasitaos said. The worst result is that Greece cannot buy a single grain of food on the international market. We still have There are Congo colonies to rely on”

With the development of the Congo colony, agricultural output there was increasing, although limited by climate problems, only rice could be grown instead of wheat, which was more acceptable to the Greeks.

"But after all, Congo is far away in southern Africa, thousands of nautical miles away from mainland Greece, and the transportation route is too long. The reliability of this food route is doubtful," Agriculture Minister Papanasitaos refuted.

Papanasitaos is dissatisfied with Greece's food tariff policy. On the one hand, as the Minister of Agriculture of Greece, he is really worried about the development of Greek agriculture.

There are also other reasons. For example, for some large Greek landowners, the continued low domestic food prices have seriously harmed the interests of these people. These large landowners continue to lobby Agriculture Minister Papanasitaos.

"Well, the zero-tariff policy on food cannot be changed, but food security cannot be ignored. The Greek government will establish a new agency, the Grain Reserve Agency, to ensure food security in Greece."

In fact, Constantine was thinking of the Changpingcang system in Chinese history. The core purpose of this system is to ensure the stability of grain prices. When the grain harvest is good, the price is low. He buys a large amount of grain to raise the grain price and prevent the grain from being cheap. It hurts farmers; and when food prices rise, food is sold off, depressing food prices.

In fact, the government intervenes in the economy to prevent food prices from skyrocketing and plummeting, causing turmoil in the country.

Constantine explained to everyone the benefits of Changping Cang.

"Of course, we cannot apply mechanically. After all, national conditions are different. Greek food prices need to be deliberately maintained at a low level. We mainly focus on the role of Changpingcang in maintaining food security."

"Therefore, in specific practice, it is necessary to combine the actual situation of Greece. Currently, in Greek agricultural production, there is a trend of joining agricultural cooperatives. Farmers pool their production materials together to reduce costs and improve agricultural products through intensification. price, the newly established Grain Reserve Bureau can cater to this trend.”

"By placing orders with agricultural cooperatives, wheat is purchased as reserve grain in Greece. This kind of cooperation can make profits for both the Grain Reserve Bureau and the agricultural cooperatives. By placing orders with cooperatives, the Grain Reserve Bureau reduces Procurement costs; and because these agricultural cooperatives are intensive operations, their production costs are lower than those of individual farmers, and they are also profitable; they can also directly purchase insufficient grain shares from Russia or the United States."

"This has the advantage of ensuring that Greece has a certain food production capacity."

Constantine explained his thoughts clearly to everyone.

"As for how much grain the Grain Reserve Bureau needs to store, it is calculated based on meeting Greece's domestic grain needs for half a year to a year under extreme conditions."

"Even if rice from the Congo cannot be supplied to Greece by then, with this minimum of six months of food as a buffer, it can also give Greek farmers enough time to convert land originally planted with cash crops into food."

Constantine's idea won unanimous recognition from everyone, and it indeed safely balanced food security and food tariff policy.