Greeks Return To The Land To Survive

This is the best thing that could've happened to Greece

People & Power

Greece: The odyssey

As another difficult year for the battered European economy ends, many Greeks are returning to the land to survive.       Filmmaker: Philip Williams and Mavourneen Dineen At the end of another year of painful austerity and mouting debts, Greece's battered economy is seeing over 1,000 workers lose their jobs every day. On the surface, many cities still looks prosperous, but the nation's deep crisis is clearly reflected in the windows of hundreds of empty shops. More than one million Greeks are unemployed, which is one-quarter of the workforce, and the country is facing a youth unemployment rate of 58 percent. But while many are struggling to survive in this harsh financial climate, others are returning to the land from the towns and cities that onced promised so much. Up until a month ago, Kostas Bozas was a city banker. Now he is unemployed and has moved to his father's house in a village outside Thessaloniki, going back to his roots in search of a future. "I come a from a steady job, and now at the age of 50 it's the right opportunity to become a farmer ... my father will teach me the things he knows from his father." Thousands have taken the road back to farming in recent years - while the rest of the economy is in free fall, the farming sector is actually adding jobs. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/12/201212261023141617.html