Central
Central Government is responsible for :
- Increasing the added value of agricultural products and for promoting their exports;
- Developing and improving the production and the business environment in the field of agriculture;
- The better management of the resources that accrue from the Common Agricultural Policy;
- Increasing the contributions of the agricultural sectors in the Gross Domestic Product;
- Representing and promoting Greek interests on all European fora;
- Supporting innovative cultivation techniques;
- Training farmers and agriculture professionals;
- The promotion of measures that facilitate the funding of agricultural production.
The central government is the national managing authority over the allocation of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) funds. Additionally, it oversees the Rural Development Programme (RDP). It also oversees the management of these resources.
Responsibilities otherwise are mainly decentralised to the regional and local levels.
Regional
Regional authorities are responsible for:
- Drafting, monitoring and assessing the implementation of annual and multi-annual regional development plans and policies for agriculture, livestock and fisheries;
- Drafting sectoral regional programmes for the purposes of processing agricultural products and promoting their integration into sectoral national programmes;
- Addressing the technical, financial and structural problems of agriculture;
- The implementation of programmes of livestock feeding in mountain-disadvantaged regions;
- Controlling and processing technical components and land reclamation projects, as well as conducting auctions for land reclamation projects and studies;
- Supervising the General Land Reclamation Organisations, the possibility of merging and elimination of such entities and the supervision of the Irrigation Agency;
- Conducting agricultural technical and economic research and research on issues of land, aquatic and amphibian health;
- Use of the data files for the primary sector of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food;
- Keeping data on olive and vine crops at regional level, based on the respective registers of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food;
- Keeping a database about merchants of animal products and animal products by the regional veterinary authorities;
- Preserving and protecting agricultural land especially highly productive lands;
- Programming, studying and manufacturing irrigation and anticorrosive works and securing their funding;
- Promoting mechanisation and electrification of agriculture;
- Maintaining a record of producers, distributors, exporters and importers of plants, plant products and related products, at regional level, based on the respective data of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food;
- The consideration of appeals against the rejection of the improvement plans and the validity of the lists of beneficiaries of compensatory damages;
- Promoting and supporting producers’ organisations in order to address economic and structural issues in accordance with national and EU law. Setting up primary and secondary committees for the recognition of producers groups;
- The implementation of modern disinfection methods for exporting and importing agricultural products;
- The determination of protection zones and destruction of illegal crops inside those zones;
- Licensing for replanting vineyards in accordance with the respective legislation;
- Controlling the production and marketing of wine;
- Conducting inspections in collaboration with the regional centres of plant and quality control of the Ministry of Rural Development, on farms, businesses and associations involved in any stage of production and marketing of plants, plant products and other relevant objects;
- Labelling and monitoring of the evolution of crop diseases and implementing measures to address them;
- Planning and supervising collective or obligatory programs that aim to prevent the evolution of crop diseases;
- The primary environmental evaluation, assessment and approval of environmental conditions concerning the location and development of industrial and manufacturing activities for the production of:
- Dairy products and slaughterhouses;
- Wine - vinegar production; and
- Seeds - juice.
- Monitoring and supervising programmes of livestock health;
- Control of the livestock market through electronic systems;
- Ensuring the legal trading of agricultural and livestock medicines and taking samples for analysis;
- Control of epizootic diseases of wild animals which are transmissible to humans or other animals, and the coordination of actions with the competent authorities in order to effectively prevent its transmission;
- The control of industries that produce animal food;
- The control of animal food as far as the labelling of genetically modified organisms is concerned;
- Regulating the import of beef, pork and lamb meat and the trading of their skins;
- Planning and implementing sanitary programs that include the slaughtering of livestock that suffers from brucellosis.
Local
Municipal authorities are responsible for:
- Setting up and operating Bureaus of Agricultural Development;
- Planning and implementing works of technical infrastructure, of local interest, concerning agriculture, livestock and fisheries and in particular rural roads, construction of reservoirs, pasture improvement projects and land reclamation projects;
- The supervision of General Land Reclamation Organisations, the Interim Governing Board and local irrigation committees;
- Pastures management;
- Providing opinions for the determination of industrial and business regions as well as the research of environmental effects;
- Researching issues concerning agricultural, livestock and fisheries development as well as preserving agricultural populations in their homelands;
- The development, protection, assessment and monitoring of agricultural and livestock production;
- Providing liaisons between agricultural production and tourist development;
- Promoting programmes for young farmers;
- Assessing and observing the agricultural and livestock production as well as the process of agricultural products;
- Controlling the agricultural market and taking samples of representative prices of agricultural products;
- Informing the rural population about modern production and organising methods in order to address technical, economic and structural issues in the framework of projects launched by the Ministry of Agricultural Development;
- Cooperation with agricultural research centres;
- The broader dissemination of knowledge concerning the implementation of improved cultivation methods to the rural population;
- Providing licenses for the operation of veterinary offices for food producing animals, and special permit for storage of pharmaceuticals;
- Implementing and monitoring the operation of the system of identification and registration of the livestock in the municipality;
- Permitting the operation of livestock marketing shops;
- Providing opinions about the sanitary conditions of animals in case of travelling;
- Permitting the establishment and operation of livestock poultry facilities;
- Permitting the establishment and operation of zoo, setting up of consultative committees and conducting of inspections;
- Leasing of municipal land for industrial or craft purposes, farms, greenhouse plants and units for fisheries;
- The management and operation of municipal farming lands, pastures and new croplands conceded to them by the State;
- Licensing vehicles for the transport of livestock.
Responsible ministries/bodies
Ministry of Rural Development and Food
Sources
Ministry of Rural Development and Food according to Presidential Decree 97/ 2017/ 138/ 15/09/2017
Law 3463/2006 (OJ Α 114/30.6.2006) 'Code for Municipalities and Communities', Article75.
Law 3852/2010 (OJ Α 87/7.6.2010) 'Reorganisation of Local Government - Kallikratis Programme', Articles 94 and 186.
Statute Law 2545/1997(OJ A 254/15.12.1997).
Statute Law 3698/2008(OJ A 198/02.10.2008).
