Manolada

Manolada is a rural community in the Ilia prefecture bordering the Ionian Sea in the west of Greece. The larger Manolada region in the Ilia prefecture of western Peloponnese is host to over 90 percent of Greece’s strawberry agribusiness. Most cultivation is located around the village of Nea Manolada, with a recent expansion to the nearby village of Lappa. Almost all the labour here is now provided by Bangladeshi migrant men with Romanians and Albanians coming a distant second. The crop is very labour intensive, both in cultivation and harvest, thus contributing to a majority of its production cost. The farmers, by forming cooperatives, investing in trade exhibitions, purchasing refrigerated trucks, and building processing and packaging plants, have been successful in establishing export markets. Over 85 percent of the crop is exported, with its biggest markets being in Russia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and the neighbouring Eastern European countries.