Cyprus Mail l9 June 2023 - by Iole Damaskinos
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| Tractors in a previous demo |
Farmers will hold a protest on Monday morning against an EU proposal to drastically reduce the use of previously approved conventional pesticides.
The protest is expected to involve a large convoy of 600-800 pickup trucks and about 300 tractors heading to the EU House via the Presidential Palace.
The farmers are asking for the government’s support to overturn the Commission’s proposal to ban the use of conventional pesticides in Natura areas and areas near rivers and dams, as well as in residential areas.
Speaking on CyBC radio, spokesman of Eka farmers’ association Panikos Hambas warned that if the Commission’s proposal is implemented, 79 per cent of Cyprus’ agricultural land will be lost and the country will become dependent on expensive food imports.
“The concern is not limited to Cypriot farmers,” Hambas said, noting that farmers are up in arms throughout Europe over various EU green deal proposals, following from the Farm to Fork programme which farmers say threaten their extinction.
“They dressed it up nicely, to look like an environmental proposal,” Hambas said, who implied that the EU policies are tainted by greenwashing.
“This is particularly true of the countries in southern Europe and France,” Hambas said, claiming that economic interests in the “EU salons” are aiming to thrust the food production sector towards big corporate interests and genetically engineered foods.
Hambas claimed that, were the proposal to be implemented, Cyprus’ food sovereignty would be seriously compromised as huge areas of land would become prohibitively expensive for local farmers to farm.
The proposal would either see the abandonment of these areas, such as Achna, the Marathasa valley, Solea, Amiandos, Platres and Paphos river valleys, or hugely inflated local food prices, or absolute dependence on imported food, Hambas said.
Biodiversity needs to be protected, however, this cannot be done simply by imposing heavy-handed rules on farmers, according to the farming association spokesman.
Panagrotikos spokesman Kyriakos Kailas echoed concerns that the Commission’s proposal was unfeasibly strict, and warned that farmers will be forced to leave the profession.
“There is no alternative to conventional pesticides at the moment,” Kaillas told CyBC, noting that biological pest-control was far more expensive.
“The Mediterranean fruit fly, for example, can decimate production,” Kailas said. “If we are limited to using only biological products, as things currently stand, we will be priced out of the market by competitors from other countries, including third countries.”
According to Kailas, even some previously approved conventional biological pesticides would be banned under the EU’s latest proposals.
“There must be a limit, sudden and strict regulation is not the answer,” Kailas said, adding that farmers are the ones who understand how food is grown and how yields are kept up, and should have their voices heard.
EU Commission representative Athanasios Athanasiou assured the proposal is still entirely under negotiation and not a “take-it-or-leave-it” deal.
“Nothing is happening behind closed doors, there is no conspiracy at the EU level,” Athanasiou said.
He also noted that were the proposal to go ahead, following deliberation and voting, farmers would be covered during a five-year transitional period with EU subsidies.
“The discussion still needs to happen by the EU Council and Parliament, and citizens have multiple layers of access to EU decision-making,” Athanasiou maintained, adding that the EU would be taking into account differences in the needs of various states.
Permanent secretary at the Cyprus agriculture ministry Andreas Gregoriou added that the EU is not proceeding unilaterally.
He acknowledged that while farmers are receiving EU subsidies towards sustainable agriculture, they are justifiably concerned and stated that more could be done to support organic agriculture, besides subsidies.
“We are all in the same boat,” Gregoriou said, and concerns over a total blanket ban on conventional pesticides is not unique to farmers in Cyprus.
Police meanwhile have announced road closures in the capital ahead of the farmer’s protest, set to begin at 10.30am.
Demonstrators in tractors will move along Spyros Kyprianou Avenue (from Jumbo Lakatameia to the Orphanides traffic lights), where they will then join another batch of demonstrators and head down through Iosif Hadjiosif Avenue until they reach the intersection with Athalassa Avenue.
Afterwards, they will move along Athalassa Avenue, up to Strovolos Avenue and then follow the route to the presidential palace.
Then, from the traffic lights at the intersection of Demosthenes Severis and Grivas Digenis avenues, they will pass in front of the ministry of finance, the Greek Embassy and end up on Byron Avenue in front of EU House.
During the gathering there, the avenue will be closed to traffic.
