Meetings with farmers, ranchers and professional fishermen were held by the President and members of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture in Paphos District in an attempt to listen to the problems of these sectors.
The first meeting was held at the Anarita Community Council.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, AKEL MP Giannakis Gavriel, accompanied by members of the Committee, MPs Haralambos Pazaros of DISY Paphos, Valentinos Fakontis of AKEL Paphos and Chrysanthos Savvidis of DIKO Paphos, said that today as the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture they decided to visit Paphos to listen to the problems concerning farmers, fishermen and those holding Turkish Cypriot lots.
In his statements to reporters he said that these are three issues that especially here in Paphos are very important for the people after the many increases.
Regarding the livestock farmers, Gabriel said that their costs have gone up very much without increasing the price of the product they sell to the dairy companies and this is borne solely by the livestock farmers. In this context, he continued, they called on the Minister, as a Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, to take an initiative to draw up a plan for the financial support of the farmers. Also, he continued, is the issue of haloumi which has been plaguing for so many years. After the last meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, where it was said there by the Legal Department that the quota should be implemented, they called upon the responsible Ministry to exercise stricter controls. We called on the Ministers of Commerce and Agriculture to start immediate controls so that, whatever is on the consumer's shelf is halloumi but with the correct actual quota, he said.
This was followed by a meeting at the offices of the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service, followed by a meeting with professional fishermen at the Muttalos Fishermen's Association.
In relation to the lots and whether their owners are registered, Gabriel said that Paphos is a peculiar area. Indicatively, he said, Turkish Cypriot lots are cultivated in Paphos by indigenous people.
Regarding professional fishermen, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources said that they have serious problems both with the fishing shelter and with the loss of income. We want to see how we as the Committee on Agriculture can support them, which is why we are in Paphos today," he said.
Asked where the loss of income of professional fishermen is due to, Mr. Gabriel referred to the decrease in tourism and the Ukrainian war that made it difficult to sell their products, as well as to imported fish. It is here, he said, that we need to look into how to protect professional fishermen, he added.
The chairman of the Anarita C.C. Michael Nikandrou said that a few decades ago the residents of the Anarita community as a whole were engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. Today, he added, for many different reasons, very few people are active in these sectors. He also hoped that the discussion would resolve some of the many problems faced by farmers and ranchers, so that they could be helped to remain in the profession and other young people could join, because, as he explained, these are sectors that our country's economy needs, expressing the readiness of the Anaritas C.S. to help as much as we can to achieve your goals and objectives.
Source: KYPE
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