The rural world must and will be supported by the government, agriculture minister Costas Kadis said on Monday after a visit to Protaras and Paralimni which were affected by hail on Sunday.
“Given the recurrence of such extreme weather phenomena such as hail it is in the thoughts and intentions of the ministry to include in our investment programmes the installation of anti-hail systems, covering areas throughout Cyprus beyond mountainous regions in the new period of the common agricultural policy, that is from 2021 until 2027,” he said.
“In this way, the specific area which we have seen is affected by several extreme weather phenomena in recent years will be covered.”
He said the purpose of his visit was to see the damage at first hand and to send a message of support to the region.
As of yesterday, he added, officials of the department of agriculture were present at the scene and began to record the areas which were damaged by hail as a first step.
“We call on the farmers who have suffered damage to submit their forms, so a more specialised assessment can be done within the coming days, to start the compensation process.”
According to Kadis, a legislation regarding compensation was recently passed by Parliament, which covers all farmers.
In fact, he added, “the guidelines given to the officials of the department of agriculture are where there is doubt to always be in favour of the farmer, because we really want to support our rural world, which is currently reeling from the pandemic, and is now also dealt a blow by a natural disaster.”
Source: Cyprus Mail
