The socioeconomic impact of a wildfire based on farmers’ perception: a case study for the island of Thassos

Nowadays, wildfires have become a common natural disaster as a result of climate change, closely related to uncontrolled anthropogenic interventions, causing multiple socio-economic impacts on modern economies. In Greece, the remarkable extent of burned rural areas caused by wildfires has a significant economic impact in terms of farms and a national perspective. The present research aims to assess the impacts of wildfire on the agricultural sector on the basis of farmers’ perception with the tool of a questionnaire for the wildfire in Thassos island in north Greece recorded in 2016, and to unveil potential practices adopted for wildfire mitigation or prevention. On the basis of logit methodology, three models were estimated to identify and quantify the determinants of three dependent variables, namely, Burned cultivation replacement, Annual costs for fire mitigation, and Future actions-wait for re-sprouting for grafting. The findings of our analysis confirmed that the majority of farmers cannot assess the extent of the disaster, they are not willing to undertake further actions regarding the future of their burned cultivations, and they are not willing to undertake any further costs. Disappointment and resignation is confirmed and functions as an impediment to initiatives for present and future actions, especially for those who practice agriculture as a secondary source of income. The scientific value of the objective and subjective economic assessment stands on the provision of a useful tool in decision-making to conserve and improve rural life, food production and regional economic development.