The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment activates Measure 21 of the Rural Development Program (RDP) 2014 - 2020, providing additional support to the rural world, which has been affected by the measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, with the competent Minister, Costas Kadis to ensure that the Ministry closely monitors the situation and will continue supportive interventions to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector.
In particular, the Minister of Agriculture announced the announcement of Measure 21 of the RDP for support of farmers in emergencies with a total budget of € 3,65 million, while the announcement of another two measures with another € 900.000 is expected. These measures will be added to 27 horizontal and specialized measures in excess of € 15 million which were approved by the Council of Ministers since the beginning of the pandemic in Cyprus last March to support the agricultural sector.
"I want to assure our rural people that we are constantly monitoring the situation and the impact of pandemic measures on our farmers and will continue our supportive interventions to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector," he said during the presentation of the new support measures. Mr. Kadis stressed: "After all, one of the lessons we learned because of the pandemic was how important the agricultural sector is in ensuring the adequacy and quality of food in times of crisis."
Measure 21 which was announced through the RDP 2014-2020 will support permanent crops in areas with an altitude of over 400 meters with € 2,2 million, vegetables, herbs and strawberries with € 650.000, viticulture, winemaking, table and traditional varieties with € 500.000, watermelon cultivation with € 250.000 and olive cultivation in areas with an altitude of less than 400 meters with € 50.000.
At the same time, Mr. Kadis announced that in the next few days will follow the announcement of two more measures to support pig farming with € 750.000 and the wine sector with € 166.000.
The submission of applications for the projects started on November 4 and ends on the 17th of the month with the beneficiaries being able to submit their applications electronically. The implementation process of the measures is undertaken by the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organization (KOAP).
It is noted that the support plans were formulated by the Department of Agriculture, approved by the Council of Ministers and then approved by the European Commission.
At the same time, the Minister of Agriculture stated that in an effort to focus on the farmers most affected by the pandemic, as well as for the purposes of fairer distribution and transparency of the aid to be granted, the method of linking the aid amount with the area of the farm was chosen. "As a result, more aid is paid to farmers with the largest arable land," he explained.
Analyzing the plan, the Assistant Commissioner for Agricultural Payments, Andreas Evangelou, said that the beneficiaries are those who applied for the Single Area Aid Plan of KOAP for 2020, while the aid ceiling was set at € 7.000 per beneficiary.
On behalf of the Agricultural Organizations, the Secretary General of PEK Michalis Lytras said that the measures relieve our rural people.
"They do not solve all our problems in any case, but they alleviate the agricultural sector, which is the primary sector of production," he said, stressing that the pandemic proved that only the primary sector of production, the agricultural and livestock sector. "is the one who has saved all the countries and the Republic of Cyprus".
Measure 21 for 2021-2022
Asked about the new RDP for the next programming period, Kadis said that the regulations for the new Common Agricultural Policy are being discussed between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, adding that the new CAP provides for the use of measures that can cover emergencies. Needs.
"For 2021 - 2022, which is essentially the transitional period, we can use the same measure that we used until today, Measure 21 with some ceilings", he said and added: "Our intention is if and when there is a need to study this again." need for cooperation and consultation with the agricultural movement and our farmers to formulate measures that will be covered either by national resources or through the Rural Development Program ".
"So yes there is a possibility for new measures when this is deemed necessary," he added.