With the plant protection regulation already withdrawn by the Commission, in an attempt to appease agricultural protests across Europe, the Cypriot farmers’ demands – which they submitted to the EU’s office in Nicosia – included the prohibitive costs of reducing pesticide use under the European Green Deal. Cypriot farmers consider that in Cyprus, as in most countries of the South, the climatic conditions do not allow production without the necessary crop protection products. In the memorandum signed by all the agricultural organizations of Cyprus, the abolition of green taxation and the differentiation of planning for the implementation of the green transition are also requested.

The government is on the side of the farmers

On the part of the government, the recently appointed Minister of Agriculture Maria Panagiotou stated in her statements that the government is on the side of the farmers and not against them. He said one of the government’s big targets is to increase the primary sector’s contribution to GDP to 1.8%. The Cypriot minister indicated that there are planned funds of 354 million euros, which will be allocated to the primary sector. According to information from DW, in the last 24 hours debts from both subsidies and compensations for losses from previous years have been paid to the accounts of the producers.