At 13:00 at noon a meeting will be held between the Ministry of Agriculture and representatives of SEDIGEP Paralimni, according to information from Famagusta.News.
The Minister called on the producers to have a dialogue in order to resolve the issue that was created with the protest on Friday at the SEDIGEP area, where producers threw on the street perishable since, as they said, they remain unwell, and called on the state to support them.
Georgios Moulazimis Kakouris, President of SEDIGEP Paralimni and Panagiotis Maouris, Director will be present today at 13:00 in the office of the Minister with the aim of discussing and solving the problems of the producers.
It is recalled that the Ministry of Agriculture through its announcement after the protest stated the following:
Regarding the protest that took place yesterday in SEDIGEP Paralimni, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment points out the following:
The Government acknowledges the tremendous contribution of farmers in ensuring the adequacy and safety of food in the market, in the difficult conditions we all experience due to the pandemic of Covid-19. It also acknowledges that the Rural Sector has been hit by the effects of pandemic mitigation measures and therefore could not fail to respond, supporting our rural world during this difficult time.
As early as last March, the Council of Ministers approved a series of targeted plans, aimed at supporting the agricultural sector and restoring farmers' incomes. To date, they have been approved through five successive decisions of the Council of Ministers around 30 meters with a budget of more than 17 million euros. These measures were either horizontal in nature and concerned all farmers (eg measures for reduced water charges), or concerned specific sectors of farmers who were documented to have been hit hardest by the effects of the pandemic.
The formulation of these measures was done through a wide consultation with the agricultural organizations, with which a fruitful cooperation has been developed, but also with the farmers themselves, during the visits made by the Minister of Agriculture and his associates throughout the Cyprus.
It is important to mention that Cyprus was one of the few countries in the European Union that directly supported its primary sector, in a structured way, with both national and European resources, to deal with the consequences of the pandemic.
The last decision of the Council of Ministers to support the agricultural sector was taken in December 2020 and concerns the support of specific groups of producers who face particular problems. One of the teams that received support is SEDIGEP Paralimni.
Finally, it is emphasized that our farmers have benefited from all the measures announced by the Government to deal with the pandemic and are implemented by the Ministries of Finance and Labor, Welfare and Social Security.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment assures our rural world that it is constantly monitoring the situation and the effects of the pandemic on our farmers, and will continue its supportive interventions, within its capabilities and available resources, to ensure sustainability of the agricultural sector.