THE FORAGE RESOURCES OF GREECE*
ATH.
PANOS
Director, Experimental Station of Forage and Vegetable Breeding, Cfreek Ministry ofAgriculture, Lariam, Greece
TNTBODDCTORY
NOTEBy R. O. WHYTE
This article is being published as the result of correspondence between Dr. Norman Wright ofthe Ministry of Food, London, Professor A. A. Johnson of the Department of Plant Breeding atCornell University, and
myself,
which
arose because
of a mutual interest in the improvement of Balkanand Middle East agriculture. It represents a report of pioneer work in the field of forage crop pro-duction which ha.s been carried on by Dr. Panos at the Exeprimental Station at Larissa from 1933 tothe present time.Apart from the subdivision of Greece into four climatic and crop zones (see Fig. 1), and the re-port of the yields and behaviour of a number of forage plants tested, perhaps the greatest interestattaches to the report of the rotation experiments which have been conducted for 10 years. Havinghad an opportunity of seeing the research plots for
himself.
Professor Johnson states that he wasparticularly impressed by these experimental rotations, and believes that this aspect is an importantkey to the improvement of the Greek agricultural economy. Application of the results obtained byDr. Panos would make it possible to increase wheat production by 20 to 30 per cent on the plains,using the same acreage in wheat but introducing legumes in the rotation in place of fallow and othercereals. In addition to the increase in wheat production due to the fertility provided by legumes,these same legumes would be a source of badly needed high-protein feed for the stock and food forhumans. An upgraded
diet,
higher standard of living and improved cropping practices would go handin hajid. Such improvements can be made within existing resources, that is, without the extensionof irrigation or mechanization. The better varieties to be produced by the plant breeders and croptesters and reproduced in the seed programme would be much less limited in their opportunity toexpress their superior yielding capacity.In supporting in general Professor Johnson's statements concerning the desirability of soil-improv-ing rotations in the cereal-producing economy ofGreece, I would like to point out the importance of themethod in which the legume is used or harvested. Results in Cyprus and Palestine seem to indicatethat there is a marked difference in after-effect on the yield of subsequent crops depending uponwhether the legume or the legume/grass or legume/cereal mixture is harvested for gram or hay,ploughed under for green mantire, or grazed
by live
stock
in situ.
In particular, the grazing of arableforage crops, possibly by the use of an electric fence, facilitates the return of stock nitrogen to the land,increases the organic matter content, and also relieves the pressure of the grazing animals on thealmost invariably overgrazed natural vegetation. It is to be hoped that the research workers inGreece and other less advanced countries will in their experiments explore the applicability of someform of alternate husbandry as a development of their existing farming systems based on a cereal-growing economy.
In the axt of using her agricultural land, Greece is still at the grain production stage,since more than half of her cultivated land is used annually for the production of cereal
•Original translation prepared by Miss Regina O. Hughes.
2
DIMTTBIUS ATH. PANOS
grains, especially
of
winter oereals. Agricultural statistics
for the
year
1938
show thatthe- area
of
cultivated land rose
to
2,409,662 hectares
out of a
total land area
in
Greeceof 12,988,000 hectares,
aji
indication
of the
mountainous relief
of the
country.
Of
thisentire cultivated area, cereals occupied
1,606,654
hectares
or
66.67
per
cent, made
up as
follows
(in
percentage): wheat 35.76, maize 11.62, barley 8.11, oats 6.68,
rye
2.62, wheat/barley mixed
2.5,
rice 0.16, millet 0.16, other cereals 0.08. Certain provinces devote them-selves almost exclusively
to the
production
of
cereals
; for
example
the
percentages
in
relation
to
total cultivated land
are as
follows
:
Thessaly 70.99, Macedonia 75.29, Thrace
76.83,
Epiru8 79.04
and
Thresprotie
91.23.
In
contrast,
all
kinds
of
legumes such
as the
grain legumes (broad beans, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, vetches including
Viciaervilia)
occupied
5.51 per
cent
of the
total cultivated area.
The
total forage crops alsooccupied,
in
1938,
6.61 per
cent
of
which
2.29 per
cent were
hay
cereals,
2.61
naturalmeadows
cut for hay, and
0.61
per
cent lucerne.These figures show that there
is a
lack
of
proper balance between
the
crop plantswhich enrich
and
deplete
the
soil respectively,
as is
manifested
by :
(a)
a
gradual fall
in
soil productivity because
of
lack
of
oi^anic matter,
(b)
a
reduction
in
jdeld
of
cereals
and
other crops, annual
and
perennial,
and
(c)
a
reduction
in
animal husbandry
due to
scarcity
of
forage, which shows
a
pro-gressive decrease, thus influencing numbers
and
return from live stock.Because
of
the absence
of
any fixed relationship between crop
and
animal husbandry,the agricultTiral revenue
is
small and insufficient, agriculture unstable, and living standardsmiserably low. Table
1
gives some population
and
area figures
in
comparison with othercountries.
CountryGreece, 1938Bulgaria ..Jugoslavia 1934 ..Boumania. .Tiu-keyBelgium ..FranceGermany ..DenmarkSwitzerlandSpainItalyGreat BritainNorwayHungary ..RussiaSweden ..Total area
in
hectaresthous.12988103162476429605762743061560994701742934129606723100824100308699307220687141024Populationthous.710961711495019196162508300419406645637094163248494230046992288289441730006260Per cent totalarea undercultivation22.240.263.662.0
—
66.663.361.271.863.238.966.281.233.281.128.811.8Productive areaper inhabitantper hectare0.410.670.880.96
—
0.200.830.430.840.620.790.480.420.490.840.370.77
TABLE
1. Total area, population, percentage of area under cultivation, and productionarea per inhabitant in Greece compared with other countries.
THE FOKAGE RESOURCES OF GREECE 3
To meet the demand for food, the Greek peasants have everywhere increased thepercentage of cereals, especially wheat, so that in many places the predominant rotationof wheat/cereal/fallow (for grazing) has degenerated into the monocultural rotation ofwheat/wheat/cereal. Thus the worst possible conditioiis have been created for the ac-cumiilation of moisture and organic matter in the soil, and the provision of fodder forgrazing animals.For these reasons the average yields of cereals, especially during the 5-year period1934-8, were mediocre, although only one of these years had a dry spring and a hotsummer, while the others had favourable conditions of rather mild winters, cool and rainysprings and temperate summers. In spite of the spread of improved varieties from theInstitute for Plant Improvement at Salonika, the average yields of various crops duringthe period in question were (in lb. per acre): wheat 894, maslin (wheat/barley mixture)690, rye 826, oats 820, barley 952 and maize 958.Because of lack of fodder, working animals are unable to carry out satisfactorily thework of cultivation, and producing animals often show serious falls in yields in cold or dryyears because of the coniflict of interest between the cultivators and the nomadic herdersconcerning the utilization of the fallow lands which have been the basis for maintainingthe flocks during winter.Since we are now in Greece in the intermediate stage between cultural epochswhich demand adequate preparatory work to facilitate the change, we are seriously inneed of experimental data which will contribute to the very essential improvement inthe disastrous economy of the Greek peasant. Work commenced at Larissa in March1933 and continued uninterrupted for 15 years now provides data on the fodder and graz-ing crops which may be cultivated on the arable land in order to introduce a soil-improvingcrop into the rotation. It will first be necessary to quote some ecological informationconcerning the climatic and crop zones of Greece before dealing in particular with thesoils and results of trials at Larissa.Greece is situated between lat. 34°55'N. and 41°38'N. and between long. 19°37'E.and 27°6'E. Climatically the country can be divided into two regions. South Greece,lying to the south of lat. 39°N. where the temperate Mediterranean climate prevails, andNorth Greece which has a more continental climate with an annual mean temperatureexceeding 20°C. as in ThessaJy, Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus. The rainfall regionfollows, in general, the Mediterranean pattern, annual precipitation being limited to theautumn, winter and spring with a maximum in the winter. Summer, the period ofgreatest heat, is consequently a drought period. The summer drought lasts approx-imately four months, from mid-May to mid-September. There is an exception to thesegeneral conditions in the interior of northern Greece and of the Balkans in general, wherethe climate is more continental and the annual rainfall, which is not great, is more evenlydistributed throughout the year, the minimum being during the months of July andAugust. Thus in general, of the annual precipitation of Greece some 70-90 per cent fallsbetween October and March, frequently in the form of torrential showers. The pre-valence of steep slopes in the country means that the greater part of this rainfall runs ofiFand is thus lost to agricultural vegetation.Ecologically Greece may be divided into four principal zones distinguished by : thedistribution of the important meteorological factors, the occurrence of different soil types,and the phenologic index of legumes and cereals. This division is based on two lines ;
Ihre Neugier belohnen
Alles, was Sie lesen wollen.
Jederzeit. Überall. Auf jedem Gerät.
Keine Verpflichtung. Jederzeit kündbar.