In Paralimni the Minister of Agriculture - Meetings with farmers (VIDEO)

A proposal for the distribution of available water resources will be submitted to the Council of Ministers tomorrow, said the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Costas Kadis, who will ask for the support of the European Union to help farmers from water shortages.

In statements to the District Office of Agriculture of Famagusta in Paralimni, the Minister said that today he visited the District Offices of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Water and the Department of Environment in Larnaca and Famagusta, while the facilities of SEDIGEP in Paralimni Liopetriou.

He added that in the meetings he had we discussed with the executives of the various Services "data concerning the policies implemented by the Ministry. "Our effort and intention is to have constant contact with the base of the Ministry of Agriculture, with the executives who are on the front line and we will continue our contacts with the farmers themselves."

He described "it is very important to get information from the grassroots, so that with what we hear we can constantly graft and improve our policies. We are at the crossroads of important decision-making on both agricultural policy issues and agricultural reform, agricultural insurance, issues related to improving the position of farmers in the agricultural chain and improving their position. " .

We want, Mr. Kadis continued, "the products produced by our farmers to be sold at prices that give them significant benefits and not only traders to benefit from the sale of agricultural products. The Ministry has started a process to deal with unfair commercial practices, we share our thoughts and ideas with the officials of the Ministry in the region and we hope that drawing from their own wisdom we will finally make the right decisions ".

Asked about the reduced rainfall that Cyprus had this year and the possibility of cuts in water supply, the Minister of Agriculture replied that "it is the 4th consecutive year of drought and the worst year of the decade in terms of water reserves in dams. This certainly worries us, but we must responsibly manage the (water) reserves that we have at our disposal ".

He added that tomorrow, Wednesday, the "proposal of the Ministry regarding the distribution of available water resources will be submitted to the Council of Ministers. "Our goal is to ensure water supply this year as well, so there will inevitably be some cuts in irrigation issues and we want these cuts to be made in a way that affects our farmers to the least extent possible."

In any case, Mr. Kadis continued, "at the next Council of Agriculture Ministers I will raise the issue formally and ask for the support of the European Union to help our farmers deal with these adverse conditions as painlessly as possible, and I hope that we will have it ".

Asked to mention how the Ministry of Agriculture deals with the issue of the passage of quantities of potatoes from the occupied areas of Cyprus through illegal passageways, Costas Kadis said that "this was one of the issues discussed in our meetings today. It seems that the problem does not arise from the Green Line Regulation itself, because the products that come (in the free areas) through the Regulation and through the normal passages, the normal roadblocks are controlled ".

He added that "so far there has been no problem with these products. "There really seems to be a problem with the illegal entry into the free areas of products that are not controlled, not through the controlled passages".

He even explained that "after this problem has been identified, specific solutions have been proposed to increase controls, for controls at different levels, in order to detect and isolate such incidents, which are also considered unfair practices, are considered practices that affect Cypriot agriculture. We will take measures in cooperation with the supermarkets themselves, with which I will personally contact, but also with the other competent Ministries in order to reduce as much as possible the negative effects of such incidents ".

Answering a relevant question, the Minister replied that "at a technical level, the whole process of securing halloumi has been successfully completed. "Some issues have been raised that have a purely political dimension, regarding the differentiation of the Green Line Regulation for the passage of halloumi that will be produced in the occupied areas."

After stating that on the issue "the European Commission has made a proposal, which presents points of concern to the Republic of Cyprus and in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we are managing this issue with the hope that it will end as soon as possible and we will have an end to its issue. registration ".

Famagusta.News / KYPE