The Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis assured the Cypriot consumers that there is a sufficiency of good quality lambs and at very low prices, adding that consumers "have nothing to fear".
At the same time, in statements during his visits to supermarkets in view of the Easter holidays, Mr. Kadis stressed that the Government supported with € 5 million the sheep and goat farmers, who did not pass the high huge in feed to the rest of the agri-food chain.
"The supply is sufficient, we have the Cypriot lambs which are at very low prices and that was the fact, if you will, that led the government to support the sheep and goat farmers. "While we had huge increases in the production cost of lambs, with increases in feed of 70%, we do not see this cost being passed on to the entire agri-food chain," said Mr. Kadis in his statements.
"What does this mean?", He continued, "means that the sheep and goat farmer bears all this burden of feed increases. That is why the Government considered it appropriate to support our sheep and goat farmers with an amount of € 5 million, in order to give time to the market to operate and distribute evenly, I would say, the costs throughout the agri-food chain. "But there is certainly no question of adequacy."
Mr. Kadis pointed out at the same time that this year there is a relatively small increase in the consumption of Cypriot lambs, especially due to the low price, compared to the Greek lamb, which is sold at higher prices, so the import of Greek lambs was limited this year.
Answering a question, the Minister of Agriculture attributed the reduced import of Greek lambs to the more expensive costs due to the high transport costs.
"Therefore, all this contributes to having much higher prices on imported products, without in any case our Cypriot products lag behind in anything. "Cypriot products are excellent in terms of quality and this is demonstrated by the inspections we carry out throughout Cyprus," he added.
The Minister of Agriculture noted that the intensive inspections have started from the 16th of the month and from the production areas to the meat disposal areas and will continue until the end of the month.
As for the fruit trees, Mr. Kadis said that they present a similar picture and that no problems have been presented or recorded, either in terms of adequacy or in terms of quality.
"Therefore, what I would say and advise Cypriot consumers is to be careful in their purchases, to buy from approved points of sale, either meat products or perishables, and they have nothing to fear, they can choose high quality products and have them at the Easter table. ", concluded.
Source: KYPE