Agriculture minister pledges support for Cyprus farming

During her visit to the agricultural estate of Akhelia as part of her tour in the Paphos district on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou said the ministry’s goal is “to expand and increase the primary sector both in gross domestic product and in exports, aiming to attract even more young people into the profession.”

“We aim to create a framework that will allow the development of the primary sector, whether it’s through incentives, infrastructure, or a series of other strategies,” Panayiotou said.

“We have already had many requests from our farmers and we listened to their advice on a number of topics.”

Panayiotou also said that tours of the agricultural areas of Cyprus are part of the new and updated strategy they are preparing for the primary sector, stressing that it came from a direct request from President Nikos Christodoulides and has been developed in collaboration with agricultural organisations and farmers’ groups.

“We are here to make sure that the measures we have incorporated are those that satisfy our farmers and to see what additional demands they have,” she said. “We are here to listen to them, but also to provide solutions to the extent possible for the problems we have.”

Regarding force majeure events and climate change, Panayioutou said the ministry is working on a list of strategies to mitigate their impact.

“What we can create to effectively respond to all the uncontrollable factors is to provide tools for our farmers to access technologies that will shield them from unpredictable events, such as floods and dry spells,” she said.

Panayiotou so far toured the Famagusta and the Paphos districts. She vowed to visit agricultural areas in Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca by next week.