Based on the data available to date, the total support package for livestock farmers impacted by foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), following a new decision by the Cabinet and the decision of 5 March, amounts to €28 million, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Maria Panayiotou has said following the Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Referring to the second support package, which includes a total of nine measures to support livestock farmers and was approved by the Cabinet during its meeting on Monday, 16 March, Panayiotou said that the €24.5 million relates to today’s decisions by the Cabinet, and the €3.5 million to the Cabinet’s decision on 5 March regarding an advance payment.
“The aid and support provided to livestock farmers to date, based on the data we have so far regarding the number of cases and animals, has been costed and is what has been submitted to the Cabinet today,” she emphasised.
She noted that “we essentially have 9+1 measures” and added that “today the additional 9 measures have been adopted, bringing together a comprehensive package to support our livestock farmers, not only for the affected farmers but also to support the livestock sector in general through the establishment of a special committee headed by Stavros Malas,” a geneticist and politician who served as Minister of Health (2011–2013) and is currently the President of The Cyprus Institute.
Asked whether the government had told the truth that the animals would be culled in accordance with European regulations, Panayiotou said that “from the very beginning, the government has told the truth,” something she also stated before the House of Representatives.
“The truth is out there and has been communicated to the affected livestock farmers whom I meet and speak with every day,” she said, adding that “the truth is the EU regulation itself.”
Asked whether there were political or administrative responsibilities, the Minister of Agriculture said that “from the very beginning, we were clear and stated that our focus and commitment, as political leadership at this time, is to support the livestock farmers.”
She also noted that “our commitment and our responsibility lie in supporting our livestock farmers, and we have done so from day one.”
Presidential support
Earlier, the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, speaking ahead of the Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace, had said decisions that will provide active and substantial support to livestock farmers from the Government were being adopted by the Cabinet.
In his remarks, President Christodoulides, addressing the Cabinet members, said that “a government is rightly judged to a large extent by our society, by the way it handles crises at critical moments.”
“For the past few days, we have been facing a crisis in our region, and I am particularly pleased with the immediate response of our partners in offering us substantial assistance to address the unfolding crisis in the region,” he said.
Last year, “we had to deal with unprecedented fires in the mountainous area of Limassol. We responded immediately. I am particularly pleased because those of us who gathered on Saturday evening in Pachna, at a meeting with all the community leaders, heard from them about the government’s response,” he continued.
He added that these days we are also facing another crisis concerning foot-and-mouth disease.
“From the very beginning, as a government, we have stood by all those affected. I would like to note that, as early as March 5, we approved a package of immediate financial aid in the form of advance compensation payments of up to 50,000 euros per unit, depending, of course, on the number of animals and provided that culling had taken place. I am pleased that the payments have already begun and will be in the accounts of all beneficiaries within the next week. We must ensure that they are paid,” he noted.
“Today we are taking an even bigger step forward. We are adopting a comprehensive package of measures with three clear objectives. The first concerns full compensation for those affected. The second is to support their income, and the third—a very important one—is the rapid resumption of livestock production,” noted the President of the Republic.
As he explained, first, the Cabinet is deciding the immediate compensation payments for hay, animal feed, and animal products have been approved for all those affected.
Second, he continued, a 12-month income support program has been approved, initially for affected livestock farmers who will resume operations, a support that, as he said, will be calculated on an individual basis, taking into account data regarding their actual income, tax returns, milk deliveries, and so on.
The third package of measures concerns government support for the direct purchase of livestock, President Christodoulides said. “As a state, as a government, we will undertake the transport of animals from areas outside Cyprus that are disease-free. As is also the case where possible, our priority is the purchase of animals from domestic farms,” he explained.
The fourth package of measures, according to President Christodoulides, concerns full coverage of the costs of necessary analyses, laboratory tests, and vaccines, while the fifth is special aid for livestock farmers affected by the grazing ban, which will be calculated based on the number of animals combined with the area of permanent pastureland available to each affected farm.
He added that the sixth package of measures concerns the exemption for 2026 from rents and fees relating to livestock plots on state land or Turkish Cypriot properties, the seventh, a special investment plan to upgrade affected facilities, and the eighth, support measures for livestock farmers who were not directly affected by the disease but are located in restricted zones and have suffered commercial losses.
He also noted that there will be increased restrictive measures on farms operating within the British Bases, particularly in Pergamos, while as a ninth package of measures, a decision is being made today to establish a Special Scientific Committee for the reconstruction to upgrade the livestock sector, "a vital sector with a ten-year horizon, which will submit specific recommendations to us within three months for a more resilient and modern livestock farming model in our country."
He added that the decision is to appoint Stavros Malas, President of The Cyprus Institute, as head of this committee, while the committee will also include scientists, livestock farmers, representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of the Interior, and stakeholders, including agricultural organisations.
“Our message with the decisions we are making today is clear, it is unambiguous. We are actively and substantially supporting our livestock farmers and, at the same time, creating the conditions for livestock farming to recover as quickly as possible, but clearly stronger. And we are in a position to make these decisions, just as we did during other crises we managed and saw the public’s response, precisely because there is a strict sense of responsibility, free from populism, in the management of our economic policy, in the state’s fiscal policy, which allows us, among many other things, to absorb external crises, but also to manage internal crises, such as the one we are currently facing with foot-and-mouth disease,” concluded the President of the Republic.
(Source: CNA)
