To Cut Costs, Greeks Line Up for Potatoes

Over the course of five days in mid-March, more than 2,500 people visited a government building in Dafni to order cheap potatoes. Young couples, pensioners, and families showed officials identification proving they lived in the Athens suburb and handed over cash in return for a receipt entitling them to up to two 20-kilo sacks of spuds. On March 17 farmers arrived with three truckloads of red mesh bags filled with potatoes and dispersed 75 tons to the buyers, some of whom arrived with carts. “Greeks find themselves in a situation where we don’t have enough to survive,” Vasiliki Kladia said after placing her order. Kladia has three children and has been unemployed for four years. “There are no jobs anywhere. Wages and pensions are very low, and everyone is in debt,” she said.

The potato movement, as it has come to be called, is a bit of a spontaneous experiment. The idea is to link consumers with farmers, who sell the potatoes for an average of about 33 euro cents (44¢) a kilo. That’s half the price charged at supermarkets and grocers, which are cut out of the picture. There have been potato sales in dozens of communities, as local governments and in some cases students and other volunteers hear about them and contact the Agricultural Association of Nevrokopi, a farmers group in northern Greece where the movement started, clamoring to participate. “People can’t hold out for very long, especially when new austerity measures now are implemented,” says Michalis Stavrianoudakis, mayor of Dafni, which has a population of 35,000. “The success of the program has led to people asking if we can do the same for olive oil and even for lamb, which is traditionally eaten at Easter.”