The representatives of the agricultural organizations saw the Commissioner of Agricultural Payments on Thursday morning after yesterday's consultation with the Minister of Agriculture Petros Xenophontos.
The decisions taken at the meeting the farmers had with the responsible Minister brought satisfaction.
The Commissioner of Agricultural Payments, Andreas Kyprianou, in statements assured the agricultural organizations that all payments will be valid and timely.
Mr. Kyprianou pledged that the hectare subsidies will be paid by the end of the year, pointing out that payments have already been made for the goat and sheep farmers, for the single linked support, while the 7 million euros of the state sponsorship for milk are also to be paid.
He said that "the peasantry needs support and this support will be given now, when their big obligations begin".
"We will pay for many more, payments continue for rural development programs, for young farmers, and investment depending on the tariffs they present, maize, West Nicosia citrus fruits and many others will also be paid."
At the same time, he rejected the claims of delays in the payment of hectare subsidies, saying that they were not delayed at all this year.
The Commissioner for Agricultural Payments noted that "it always started in the first week of December, it is the first week that we are entitled under the European directives to pay. The payment period allowed by the European Union is from December to June and like the other years they started in the first week of December and continue normally as always. Absolutely nothing has changed, on the contrary, this year we are paying for many other measures that are within the framework of the new Common Agricultural Policy".
He also added that, as far as he understands, the protests of the agricultural organizations concerned political issues, which do not touch the competences of the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organization, but concern state grants. He also expressed his satisfaction with the Government's decision to respond to the requests of potato growers and wheat producers.
"We need peace in the agricultural economy to be able to achieve the best" he stressed.