In statements following a meeting he had at Pantelis Zannettos' [/B]livestock unit[/B] with other livestock farmers in the Aradippou livestock area, Stefanou said that "this sector always faces problems and needs the care and assistance of the state". He referred to the war in Ukraine, but said that "the problems started earlier, with the increase in the price of basic raw materials that make up the cost of production that livestock farms have and these problems have been amplified."
He added that "today we discussed with the livestock farmers and from them comes a voice, a cry of anguish, the sector is disappearing and collapsing and it is not a figure of speech. We need the immediate, urgent and effective intervention of the state, so that the problems are addressed and the sector is kept alive and at the same time the food chain does not collapse and we do not go hungry in Cyprus."
Stefanou said that what he said "is not a figure of speech, it is a reality. And for the state to be able to move, the government and in my perception the President of the Republic himself need to move immediately," he said, noting that he will contact President Anastasiades since "he has to intervene, to pull the strings, to move the competent ministry and the competent services to take immediate measures on the basis of a plan that addresses the pressing problems that exist."
After saying that "it is not a question of priorities", the AKEL General Secretary called on the government "not to start costing and saying there is no money and what to do. Among the priorities, if the government makes this prioritisation, it cannot but put this sector that gives food to the country," he said, adding that "solutions need to be found immediately."
He also noted that "the agricultural movement has specific proposals and the President of the Republic needs to take the initiative, to call the agricultural organisations, to listen to them and to give an order here and now to take measures." "We do not have the luxury of time, we are really lost," he said."
Stefanos Stefanou also said that "the Government must also address Europe, since the day before yesterday the European Parliament urgently dealt with the issue of the agricultural - livestock sector and the food chain. Europe rates very highly these risks that we have in Cyprus and we should also ask for European solidarity in order to support these sectors."
He also reiterated that "the proposals are very specific and without much discussion we will have to see how we implement them."
He also reiterated that "the proposals are very specific and without much discussion we will have to see how we implement them. AKEL will continue to assist the farming and ranching world to help the primary sector, which is more than necessary for the economy, society and our country, to survive and develop".
For his part, Panikos Hambas, General Secretary of the CSR, said the AKEL Secretary General "is at the forefront in defending all that he mentioned, not only for the livestock farming world but for the entire Cypriot people. Today we join with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the Secretary General of AKEL that the main issue today on planet Earth and in Cyprus is the survival of the Cypriot people," he said, adding that "the Cypriot people will go hungry if the issue of the management of the primary sector is not put high on the priority list".
That is why he continued "we suggest that the 36 thousand grains that the government will bring from abroad be given, with a specific programme[/B], free of charge and directly from the port to the farmers in order to reduce their costs.[/B][/B] Still because this year the dams will be over 95% full, water should be given free to all farmers and ranchers and those who cannot get water from the southern pipeline should be helped in a different way" i.e. the state should subsidize the irrigation departments so that farmers and ranchers do not have to pay for the water they use."
According to Mr. Hamba said that through the Rural Development Programme, veterinary services should be offered by the state for free, while he said that the P.O.P. should be implemented and controls should be carried out, since it seems that the Ministry of Commerce "did not carry out the required controls, leaving exposed both the farmers who were basically at their financial expense and the consumers who did not know what they were buying". An Attorney General's opinion clarified from 2006 that in order to be called a P.O.P. "halloumi" had to have certain milk percentages, he said, saying that "they were not enforcing them." "We denounce this fact and the President of the Republic should order an administrative investigation because they did not carry out the specific checks," he said."
Moreover, Kostas Nicolaou, a livestock farmer from the Limassol district, said that "the industry is under bankruptcy, meaning that all colleagues cannot survive not only their pens and their animals but also their families. Last week we held a peaceful protest during which we submitted our demands but without any response, and we had no response from the producer groups we spoke to". He asked for immediate support for the sector and said that the most important problems "are open and there are too many."
The meeting was attended by several Aradippou farmers, AKEL MEP George Georgiou, MP Andreas Pasiourtidis and Yannakis Gavriel, AKEL MP for Famagusta and Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Parliament, among others.
Source: CNA
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
