The Government is next to the producer and producer of the popular markets and strongly supports the wider agricultural sector, said today the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis.
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In statements after a visit to the public market of Deryneia on the occasion of its resumption of operation, the Minister of Agriculture said that "it is with great satisfaction that we found that the public market in Deryneia operates in order and safety. We saw satisfaction in the producers who can again sell their products directly from the field to the consumer, but at the same time we saw smiles in the consumers who have the opportunity to supply directly from the producer, quality products at low prices ".
The Minister thanked and congratulated both the Mayor of Deryneia and all those who contributed "so that the popular market operates in the way it operated safely".
The Government, continued Mr. Kadis, “is next to the producer, to the producer of the popular markets. "Among the latest measures approved by the Council of Ministers is a measure to support the producers of the popular markets, which in the last two months, we recognize that they went through difficult times".
At the same time, the Minister stated "the firm support of the government in the wider agricultural sector" and noted that in a teleconference held with all the Ministers of Agriculture two days ago where each Minister presented his own data in his country, it appeared that Cyprus is one of the first and the few countries that reacted immediately with measures to support the agricultural sector to address the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic ".
After stating that "we continue to monitor the situation", Costas Kadis said that "it seems that new measures are being formed in the framework of European tools available to support the agricultural sector. I want to assure the rural people that we will be by their side and we are in contact with the Mayor and the local authorities in Deryneia to see how we support the improvement of the operation of the public market ".
Today we found out, said the Minister, that the popular market of Deryneia "is a model in that ordinary producers and not traders, give their products and so we want the popular markets. We will support, in order to improve the way of operation, by creating the appropriate infrastructure while it is in the Legal Service for legislative control and bill, which will bring the operation of the public markets under our Ministry, provided that in the public markets only ordinary producers will participate ".
The message I want to send, Mr. Kadis noted "is that we want to support the popular markets because we want to support the producers of our place".
Asked to comment on the fact that in the public market there are producers from various regions of Cyprus such as Paphos and Troodos who sell traditional products, the Minister of Agriculture said that “this shows exactly that the popular markets are for producers all over Cyprus. We had seen the same in Strovolos when we visited the public market last week "he said and admitted that" there is a need for the ordinary producer to supply his products directly to the Cypriot consumer ".
He also said that by 09.30 in the morning walking around the public market, "several counters of producers were empty, which means that their products were already available. So it seems that the citizens themselves are seeking this and it is a situation that is widely accepted by society and that is why we want to support it. "
Asked to comment on complaints from producers regarding the compensation they received for last year's losses, the Minister of Agriculture said that "these were given exactly as provided by law and were given on time. In fact, much higher compensation was given at the level of the total budget, than was given in recent years. However, it was found that there were some weaknesses and that some corrective moves needed to be made which were made and our producers should expect additional support in the coming days ".
For his part, the Mayor of Deryneia, Andros Karagiannis, thanked the Minister of Agriculture for his visit to the public market and added that it "has been operating since June 2013. Today we saw that producers and consumers have both complied with his recommendations. Ministry of Health and the local authority. We want to send the message that the popular markets need the support of the local authority but also of the central state and we will support the producers who sell their products to the consumers at very good prices, fresh and with quality ".
Answering a question, Mr. Karagiannis said that "the public market is open and given the increase in temperature that is expected to exceed 40 degrees this year, it is very difficult for producers and consumers to work in these difficult conditions. That is why, as a local authority, we ask for a shelter so that we can offer better quality but also better facilities to these people ".
Famagusta.News / KYPE