THE CURRENT STATUS IN GREECE

The soil and climatic conditions of Greece are particularly favorable for the development of aromatic plants that give products of excellent quality. The Greek flora is rich in species and includes a very significant number of rare species found only in Greece. As such, some of the most excellent spices, herbs and aromatic plants in the world appear in Greece as native species, such as oregano, thyme, mountain tea, mint and many others. However, the collection of native plants presents several problems, such as difficulty in locating the plants, heterogeneity of material, inability to predetermine the quantity of the product according to time and market needs, difficulties in harvesting and preserving the product in situ and difficulty in finding labor. It is important to point out that this category of NWFPs should be exploited as drawn crops as close as possible to the positions where the species grow naturally or in other environments with the same environmental conditions. This is more possible for herbaceous or even shrubby species and less achievable for arboreal species such as linden (Tilia spp.).

Although Greece has excellent environmental conditions for crops with aromatic plants and production of essential oils, the country has not claimed the relative market share

It is estimated that a business cultivation with aromatic and medicinal plants and the production of essential oils in various regions of the country can give a capable, complementary or main income not only to the traditional forest populations but also to farmers, contributing to their sustainable local production, as well as the utilization of the natural flora. In contrast and despite the large number of aromatic plants and the wide range of soil-climatic conditions in which they are found, their development and commercial exploitation throughout Greece is still in its infancy. Out of a total of 390,000 hectares of arable land in Greece, 44% are mountainous and in disadvantaged areas, but only in 0.1% of these unfortunate areas aromatic plants are grown. Therefore, the production of these plants is obviously insignificant in relation to increasing agricultural income, but also to improving the competitiveness of the agricultural economy of our country.