Terra Kytheria: upscaling Terra Lemnia to Kythera Island, Greece

The new project ‘Terra Kytheria’ has been kickstarted on Kythera Island, Greece, in partnership with the Kytherian Foundation for Culture & Development in March 2021. Building on the ongoing fruitful involvement on the island with Kythera Trails, MedINA is now upscaling the know-how and experience of Terra Lemnia to Kythera.

The main objective of this new project is to develop a precision farming and certification system, which will support the production of high-quality, added-value olive oil and empower local olive growers. It is a collaborative endeavor between the partner organizations, the University of the Aegean, TUV Austria Hellas, the marketing team, the agricultural cooperatives of the island and olive growers.

The main action areas of the project are:

(a) co-formation of an agreement of specific agricultural practices with the project team and the participating producers towards acquiring the certification of “traditional products friendly to the biodiversity and the landscape of Kythera”. The first module is about olive growing.

(b) training of producers in precision farming systems leading to the certification of practices, as well as the management of inputs and outputs of their holdings;

(c) training producers to monitor the impact of applied practices;

(d) training of producers on agricultural entrepreneurship and marketing.

MedINA aspires to trigger a regeneration of economically and socially viable farming on Kythera, while conserving on-farm biodiversity and protecting traditional agricultural landscapes.

Feature image: © MedINA