In the framework of the project “Protocol of Agricultural Practices for Islands’ Olive Cultivation to Improve Water Use Efficiency and Address Reduced Productivity” (I.O.S.P.), on April 14, 2025, HSPN’s forester Lefteris Stergianopoulos visited the pilot field in Milatos, Crete, where he was informed about the technical infrastructure and the progress of the project implementation, while also engaging in discussions with local farmers and producers.
The wise use of water resources, with awareness and respect for the reality of water scarcity, especially during the summer months in areas with intense tourist activity, is a key prerequisite for their preservation. Partnerships such as the “Protocol of Agricultural Practices, I.O.S.P.” place this very goal at the core of their actions.
The aim of the project, in which, apart from HSPN, the Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DEMETER” (ELGO-DEMETER) participates, through the Institute of Olive Tree, Subtropical Plants and Viticulture in Chania and the Institute of Soil and Water Resources in Thessaloniki, along with the Agricultural Corporate Partnership Union of Merambello, the MODUSA Social Cooperative Enterprise, the company SCIENTACT, and Tepes Farm, is to improve olive cultivation agricultural practices, make them “smarter,” to educate, inspire and create communities in which all stakeholders, such as farmers and the wider local community, understand that the prudent use of natural resources, such as water and soil, is a fundamental prerequisite for our common future.
More broadly, the project, implemented under the Rural Development Programme (ESPA 2014–2020) and sub-measure 16.1,16.5 “Cooperation for environmental projects, environmental practices and actions for climate change,” seeks to create a protocol whose implementation will take place through the development of specialized software for managing reduced reserves and the low quality of irrigation water in the island regions of the Aegean, and to address reduced productivity in olive cultivation through the application of sound agricultural practices.
