A symbolic blockade at the Rizomylos junction was carried out today by farmers and livestock farmers due to the huge issue of uncontrolled spread of smallpox.

Farmers and livestock farmers closed the old highway Larissa-Volo with their tractors after noon, expressing their despair at the killing of cattle.

The chairperson of the Rizomylos Agricultural Association, Mr Theocharis Seskliotis, said that after the floods, smallpox dealt the final blow to the livestock farming world. He said he lost half of his herd in the floods and is still waiting to be compensated. With smallpox, the damage is even greater. “We can’t fight it,” Seskliotis said.

The complete absence of essential protection and support measures by the government, the delay in vaccinations, the inadequacy of veterinary services, and the lack of compensation for those affected lead with mathematical precision to the destruction of the sheep and goat industry. The president of the Federation of Agricultural Associations of Magnesia, Mr. Thodoris Georgadakis, presented the demands of farmers, speaking of survival demands.