EU Commissioner underlines need to support farmers in crisis situation

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski has underlined the need to support farmers in a crisis situation such as drought and water scarcity and praised the agricultural sector in Cyprus for its achievements.

The Commissioner made statements to the press following a meeting he had with Cyprus Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Maria Panayiotou. Wojciechowski was on the island to participate in the MED9 summit which will address mainly the issue of drought and water scarcity in the countries of the Mediterranean.

In his statements on 2 September, he referred to visits he had earlier to farm and agriculture units and praised the successful achievements, as he said, of Cypriot agriculture, based on the small and medium-sized farms.

He also referred to a visit to a water management unit, describing it as a good example and good practice for other member states.

The Commissioner spoke of the need for a financial instrument to support mixed farms and to support, in general, farmers through crisis situations such as drought, the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the destabilisation of the global and European market and, in the past, the COVID pandemic.

According to the EU Commissioner, strengthening of the budget of the crisis management instrument is a very important challenge for the future.

In her statements Cyprus Minister Maria Panayiotou said that she informed the Commissioner of the huge impacts on agriculture and food production due to the drought the island is faced with.

She further noted that in the recent years Cyprus has invested in infrastructure projects for water storage, wastewater management and desalination adding that Cyprus ranks among the countries with the highest per capita capacity of dams in Europe.

Panayiotou said that they discussed issues that have to do with the simplification of the common agricultural policy, so that it becomes more effective for the farmers and the technocrats.

She added that Cyprus has called for an increase in the crisis fund reserve and has proposed the introduction of an additional tool to allow for the development of crisis response measures to be financed with a rate of up to 2% of the available credits of the CAP.

The Minister also said that she informed the Commissioner of the country's intention to make a request for financial support through the agricultural fund, due to the deteriorating situation with water levels.

(Source: CNA)