The farmers of the seasonal open crops of eastern Paphos are planning a peaceful demonstration on Tuesday morning to protest the quantities water they receive for their crops.
As stated by Michalis Ignatiou, a farmer of the area and one of the organizers of the protest event, the farmers of the eastern region of Pafos with their protest, express their strong dissatisfaction with the “significantly reduced amounts of water” that are expected to be available for irrigation this year for open crops. For his part, the President of EOA Paphos, Charalambos Pittokopitis, estimates that the matter will have a positive outcome, after communication he had with the Minister of Agriculture, Maria Panagiotou.
According to the organizers, the planned gathering is expected to take place on the road to Paphos airport, at the junction with the old Paphos-Limesos road, tomorrow morning at 10:00. As open crop producers argue, the amounts of water planned to be allocated to them are even more limited compared to the already reduced amounts they received last year.
According to them, the Department of Water Development seeks to maintain strategic water reserves in the dams, which, as they say, directly affects the rural world of Pafos province.
As Mr. Ignatiou mentioned, the Minister of Agriculture is aware of the issue of water allocation, however the Department of Water Development does not allocate sufficient quantities. Asked about this, Mr. Ignatiou said that the protest event is being organized only by the farmers of the eastern Pafos region, while the agricultural organizations are expected to attend alongside them on Tuesday.
It is noted that a similar protest event was planned a few days ago by the farmers of the eastern area of Paphos, however it was suspended after the intervention of the Minister of Agriculture.
Pittokopitis: We expect a positive decision
THE President of EOA Paphos Charalambos Pittokopitis stated that from the regular communication he had during this period with the Minister of Agriculture, he gets the impression that Maria Panagiotou “has every good desire to help the producers”. He estimated that what delayed the decision-making is that the Minister of Agriculture wanted to have before her the real data, regarding the water balance of the province of Pafos before proceeding with decisions. “After the data and information we have given her at the meeting on Thursday afternoon and which we will also give her in writing tomorrow, we expect that the decision will be positive for the farmers” he added.
He recalled that in its session, on April 22, the Water Advisory Committee had made a decision to grant zero water for open crops based on the data at the time. He said, however, that since then, water has continued to flow in the dams of the Paphos District, so “today’s data is much better” than before.
He mentioned that on Thursday afternoon, the Minister of Agriculture called the EOA of Paphos and the TAU of Paphos, as well as producers, to a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, where there was an extensive discussion regarding the current data of the water balance in the province, while the granting of water to open crops in the eastern area of Paphos would be considered.
Mr. Pittokopitis said that he has informed the farmers about last Thursday’s meeting, again expressing his own assessment that there will be a “positive development”.
KYPE
