|
|
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-10-22
CONTENTS
[01] Harvest of Greek saffron starts in Kozani
[02] Earthquakes cause large sinkhole near Ioannina
[01] Harvest of Greek saffron starts in Kozani
Farmers in the rural area of Kozani, northern Greece, started harvesting
"Krokos", the local saffron produced by the crocus flower, one of
the most important products of the region which have been cultivated
for decades.
Hundreds of farmers in the regions of Agia Paraskevi, Kesaria, Ano and
Kato Platania Voiou, are found bending over their crops, collecting
one-by-one the prized stems of the purple flower.
It is a demanding and time-consuming job which can only be done
manually. One kilo of dried "Krokos" stems requires about 150,000 crocus
flowers. When the harvest ends, farmers and their workers must separate
the flower from the red stems, which are then left to dry naturally
at the local cooperative. The product is then packaged and sent to the
Greek or foreign market.
"If things go well this year, we expect to increase our production
to about five tonnes, as we added another five hundred acres of young
farmers in the 5,000 acres already being cultivated," the president of
the "Krokos" association Nikos Patsiouras told ANA.
[02] Earthquakes cause large sinkhole near Ioannina
A 200-square-meter-wide sinkhole appeared on Saturday morning in the
rural area of Kalpaki, 30 kilometers west of the city of Ioannina in
western Greece, which the fire department estimates to be about 20
meters deep.
The area which caved in, is right next to a pen and a rural road but
luckily nobody was injured, authorities said. According to the first
indications, the sinkhole was caused by continuing seismic activity in
the area and the landslides are expected to continue. People from the
surrounding areas who came to see the crater said they had never seen
such a geological phenomenon before.
Kalpaki mayor Kostas Kapsalis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency
(ANA) that a team of specialists from the Institute of Geology and Mineral
Exploration are expected to arrive at the village to inspect the crater.
|