Greek farmers fear for crops as Bulgaria water deal expires

KASTANIES: On an unusually balmy January day, Dimitris Marinoglou ploughed his field in northern Greece fearing the worst: that water supplies from neighbouring Bulgaria that have kept his family's crops alive for decades will dry up come summer.

Since 1964, water from Bulgaria’s mountains has flowed freely along the Arda River into 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of the Evros plain in Greece, under a World War Two reparations agreement between the two countries.

But the deal expired last July and it is not clear if it will be renewed as Bulgaria assesses its own water needs. The situation highlights just how vital -- and precarious -- water resources have become in southern Europe where climate change has made summers hotter and rain less frequent. Greece clocked its warmest winter and summer on record last year.

“Nothing can be done without water,” said Marinoglou, 32. “We bought equipment, we bought fields, all of this is worth a lot of money.” Anxious Greek farmers blockaded the northern town of Kastanies this week accusing the government of not acting fast enough to secure a deal ahead of summer. Officials at the Greek energy and environment ministry say political instability in Bulgaria and successive interim governments have stalled talks.

When asked about a deal, Bulgaria’s agriculture ministry said in a statement: “It is essential that Bulgaria first and foremost meets its own national water needs ... and thereafter the needs of neighbouring countries.”

Bulgaria’s energy ministry said in a statement that it had set up a working group to assess the situation. Under the previous deal, Bulgaria released 186 million cubic metres of water a year from hydroelectric dams to Evros, a poor region with no functioning reservoirs or dams. The supply was delivered from May to September when the crops most needed it.

Although the deal expired in July, Greece and Bulgaria’s national electricity company signed a last-minute agreement for supplies through September, the terms of which have not been disclosed.

Greece hopes to kick off a new round of negotiations next month now that a new government is in place in Sofia, but it is not clear if a deal can be reached by May 1. “No one can say how near or how far we are from an agreement,” said Petros Varelidis, the Greek energy and environment ministry's secretary general for water resources.

At the Kastanies blockade, farmers lined up more than 100 tractors in protest. Uncertainty over the water deal tops a long list of grievances, including contending with high energy and production costs.

“If there isn’t a long-term agreement, for us that means death,” said 59-year-old farmer Nikos Poptsoglou, whose land is supplied with water from Bulgaria. Even before the deal expired, he said his fields suffered a 30-40 per cent drop in production last year because of drought.

Dimitris Drakoudis, head of a local farmers’ association, said the water from Bulgaria was the only source they had. A water reservoir in the area is leaking and cannot retain water, local and government officials said. “The problem is that for 60 years, nothing has been done, no infrastructure projects and no maintenance,” Drakoudis said.