The Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Costas Kadis, toured the areas affected by the bad weather in Kokkinochoria this morning.
The Minister of Agriculture, accompanied by officials of the Department of Agriculture and the OGA, visited potato crops and talked to potato growers to find out for themselves the magnitude of the disaster from the recent bad weather.
The Minister was accompanied on the tour by the MEP, Lefteris Christoforou, the Member of Parliament for DISY Famagusta, Kyriakos Hatzigiannis, the District of Famagusta Department of Agriculture, Konstantinos Spanachis, the Agricultural Insurance Officer Panas Ios District Secretary of Panagrotiko Famagusta, Loukas Loukas, District Secretary of PEK Famagusta, the President of the Cyprus Potato Trade Council and the Commonwealth of Xylofagos, George Tasos, the President of SEDIGEP Sotou, Panathos Sotiras, George Efos
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Minister of Agriculture: "Compensation will come as soon as possible"
In statements after a tour in areas affected by the weather in the free area of Famagusta, the Minister said that today was an opportunity to see up close the damage suffered by farmers in the area. "Indeed, we found that there is a gradation, from complete disaster to less disaster in some cases, we found damage from many causes, from rainstorms, winds, hail and frost."
"My warm request" said the Minister, addressing the producers to proceed immediately with the submission of their requests, since "instructions have been given to the competent services, the OGA and the Department of Agriculture for immediate assessment of the damages and what I want to assure everyone is that everything that needs to be done will be done so that the compensation will come as soon as possible ".
He also expressed his intention to get "a proposal to the Council of Ministers to see how, at least part of the compensation, can be given immediately in the coming months, and not what happened before, to wait for years for farmers to get their compensations ".
Mr. Kadis told the producers that he wants them to feel that "the government is by their side" and will do everything possible to support them.
We all went on to say, "We need to realize that the extreme weather and the damage we have seen lately seem to be happening more and more often, so we need to take a more radical approach to the issue of agricultural insurance. In consultation with the Agricultural Organizations, we have formulated a plan that takes into account all these data, that is, that there are many risks and that they affect farmers and that they should be compensated immediately. "
The Minister added that this is "the philosophy of the new plan" and expressed the assessment that "we will soon go to Parliament, where a final round of consultations will take place and now the compensations will be assessed quickly and will be paid directly to the farmers, with the new order of things. That will be the big change, that will be the reform that I hope we will complete in 2019 ".
He also stated that the Services of the Ministry and the OGA will be at the disposal of the producers, called on everyone to submit their requests soon and noted that "the guidance given by the political leadership to the Services is to register as soon as possible. The damages are extensive and cannot be recorded all on the same day ", he said and added that the people of the Ministry want their time but will be next to the producers to record the damages and to make the repayment of the compensations as soon as possible.
Lefteris Christoforou: "The Minister of Agriculture shows daily sensitivity and fights"
For his part, MEP Lefteris Christoforou expressed the assessment that "preserving primary production and protecting farmers is an obligation but also a duty of all of us because the European Union believes that without the primary sector and farmers there can be no economy and there can be no society. "
He added that "in Cyprus today to continue to be a farmer is heroism, because farmers are the victims and most vulnerable to all extreme weather events and especially with the worsening of these phenomena due to climate change, these farmers will they are called to pay a heavy cost and price and it will be very difficult for them to survive ".
That is why he continued with the Minister of Agriculture, many times we contacted the European Union and the competent Commissioners so that Cyprus is covered for all these extreme weather phenomena and we will come back. "What we are experiencing today and the total disasters we have seen are the product of extreme weather events, which if they continue will displace farmers from production," he said, noting that "immediate reinforcement and support is needed."
Mr. Christoforou also referred to the forthcoming visit to Cyprus to attend a specific event, the Commissioner for Rural Development who, as he said, "shows particular sensitivity on the issue" and expressed the assessment that "the Funds can also assist. that have to do with climate change and extreme weather. "
The fact continued "that the Minister of Agriculture, expressing and representing the strong will and will of a government that in recent years has never abandoned the farmers, but supported them with all its might" should make them "feel this support and this support from the state, the state and the Minister, who daily demonstrates the sensitivity and struggle he makes, inside and outside Cyprus to protect the rights of farmers and at the same time protects the countryside, the economy and society us".
Kyriakos Hatzigiannis: "The situation we faced is dramatic"
DISY Famagusta MP Kyriakos Hatzigiannis also said that the Minister's response to visit the affected areas was immediate and added that "we have seen a dramatic situation. The consequences for potato cultivation are unprecedented, I believe that this year will have catastrophic consequences and the losses are not within the possibilities of the insurance premiums paid by the producers themselves ".
Therefore, he continued "we must proceed with the assistance of the state" as "correctly recognized by the Minister and as expressed by the state, the will of the government to assist. This means "he noted that" the path to deal with the damage is only one and that is only through the OGA ".
He added that "what we are asking for is through the legislation or through the tactics of the OGA to cover all these damages", he expressed the assessment that "the response is one way" he stated that the non-response from the state would be "extremely catastrophic for them producers "and noted that" today we have all diagnosed that the situation is from sad to catastrophic ".
Tasos Giapanis: "The catastrophe for farmers is complete"
On his part, the General Secretary of Panagrotikos, Tasos Giapanis, thanked the Minister for the "immediate response to go to the affected areas and see for himself the existing disasters. "This year we had high hopes for the production of potato cultivation because it seemed that the year would have good sales of potatoes."
However, he continued "the latest weather phenomena that are a consequence of climate change, brought the complete destruction to the potato growers in Ormidia, Xylofagou, Liopetri, Sotira and Paralimni".
Mr. Giapanis especially thanked the Minister of Agriculture and the representatives of the Department of Agriculture and the OGA who visited the affected areas and called on Costas Kadis "to stand by the side of the farmers who within a month would have income from this production and it is in the air now. "
At the same time, he welcomed "the political will of the Minister to receive a specific proposal to the Council of Ministers, with which, perhaps, part of the compensation will be given directly to the producers after the damage is recorded. The Minister and the state will be next "to the producers, he said and noted that" the most important thing is after this experience that we had to move forward ".
He also said that Panagrotikos has held three rounds of consultations with all its industry committees in order to "proceed with the new institution of agricultural insurance that will cover all these extreme weather phenomena" for which the producers have not received compensation so far. "All these distortions must go away and the new institution of agricultural insurance must be put on a proper footing," he continued.
Loukas Loukas: "The Government was present through the Minister"
PEK District Secretary Loukas Loukas thanked the Minister of Agriculture for his visit to the area of the free province of Famagusta and noted that "the damage suffered by producers is huge and may reach 100% of the damage" and added that "the government is present through the Minister and the competent bodies of the Department of Agriculture and the OGA ".
Addressing the Minister, Mr. Loukas referred to "the hundreds of tens of potatoes which could not be uprooted due to the heavy rains. "Special mention must be made of them so that they can be included in the compensation, and a way must be found quickly for this."
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