80% have been affected by the destruction of potato cultivation in the free area of Famagusta by the hitherto multi-bomb.
In his statements, the President of the Pancyprian Organization of Potato Producers Andreas Karios, who visited affected potato crops in Avgorou, said that "unfortunately with the recent rainfall there has been a catastrophe that includes all the harvests and the individual dates planted".
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He explained that the disaster also affected the winter crop that had not been uprooted and had been severely damaged, as well as the potatoes that had been planted about a month and a half ago and had sprouted but had been severely damaged due to heavy rains and large amounts of water. .
According to Mr. Cario, "potatoes are also planted from December 20 to February 10, for which there is a high probability that they will not be planted, since", as he explained, "80% of potato cultivation is sent to countries that want potatoes. at a time when they don't have their own. "
Asked how the potato growers are doing from now on, Mr. Karios replied that “we have learned to be fighters. If we do not manage to mitigate the damage and the State sees us as it should see the farmers, then we will wait (to plant) next year ".
Asked about this, Mr. Karios replied that "we saved a lot of potatoes and it was greatly mitigated (the damage) by the measures taken by last year's disaster, but they took advantage of our insurance and did not write off the damage." The new way of insurance that is done with the employees who record the damages, left us exposed ".
At the same time, he expressed the hope that "this year the appraisers will not make the same mistake and see the producer as a gangrene of the State" to add that others are gangrene of the State and not the farmers ".
For his part, EKA Famagusta District Secretary Giannakis Gavriil said that "unfortunately the multi-day rainfall has hit potato cultivation again, if not 100%, 80% has been destroyed, whether the potatoes are uprooted or just planted. The fields have been flooded since the rains and the potato cultivation in the free area of Famagusta has been destroyed ".
Mr. Gabriel appealed to potato growers to declare the areas they have planted so that the Department of Agriculture can assess the damage they have suffered. "At the same time, we will have to wait for other crops, such as wheat, whether they have been damaged," he said, adding that "potato cultivation has been destroyed."
Answering a related question, Mr. Gabriel said that "an advance payment has been made for last year's compensation. The Ministry of Agriculture has promised that within January it will give the rest of the compensation and we expect Kostas Kadis to fulfill the commitment he had given when we visited the affected areas last October ".
Famagusta.News / KYPE