The beginning of the submission of Damage Statements, for damages caused by the hail on October 20, 2019, was announced by the Department of Agriculture, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.
According to today's announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture, the interested parties can obtain the Damage Declaration forms from the offices of the Community Councils of the affected communities and from the local District Agricultural Offices.
The Ministry also invites the owners or managers of the affected farms to submit the duly completed Damage Declaration form no later than November 7, 2019 to the relevant District Agricultural Offices.
He notes that the relevant form should state the type of crop, the variety of the cultivated species that has been affected, as well as the date of planting.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, for permanent plantations and the first or second crops of vegetables, potatoes and annual crops, beneficiaries are farmers whose plots are included in the Plan of Extraordinary Subsidies (SES) of the year 2019, which should be attached to the Municipality Damage form Declaration of Extraordinary Subsidies of KOAP for 2019.
Beneficiaries are also the Farmers whose plots are not included in any way in the TEU 2019, who must accompany the Damage Declaration that they submit with a form of Crop Declaration, duly completed.
Exceptions are the second vegetable crops, potatoes and annual crops, which are located in plots which have been included in another farmer's ETS.
He adds that in this case the title deed should be attached to the Beneficiary's Declaration of Damage together with a management document, covering the current cultivation period, properly signed.
The Ministry of Agriculture emphasizes that in cases where the harvest is required to take place immediately, representative witnesses should be left, after prior consultation with the officials of the relevant District Agricultural Office.
He states that based on Law 103 (I) / 2019, and only for all damages that occur within 2019, the submission of a Crop Declaration and the payment of the annual contribution can be done after the occurrence of the damage, but within 2019.
When submitting Crop and Harm Declarations, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, the producer must authorize the Department of Agriculture to deduct the due contribution from the next payment it will receive from the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organization (KOAP), either to pay the due contribution to the Department of Agriculture himself, until 31/12/2019, or to be offset with any approved aids due by the Department of Agriculture.
Otherwise, he continues, the producer will be deprived of any right to aid in relation to the present damage.
He states that Declarations of Damage are accepted in the case of open crops and horticultural / floricultural crops in a greenhouse and adds that greenhouse constructions are not included in the provisions of the mentioned Law 103 (I) / 2019.
Finally, the Ministry states that for additional information and guidance, those interested are requested to contact the local District Agricultural Offices of the Department of Agriculture.