Potato growers plead for extra cash

By Martin Hellicar

POTATO growers gathered outside the Finance Ministry yesterday to demand an extra £3 million in compensation from the government.

Increased competition from other countries meant growers failed to sell hundreds of tonnes of their export crop last year. The state has offered growers £5 million to cover their losses.

Farmers’ unions Pek, Eka and Agrotiki insist this is not enough. They want £8 million in compensation.

About 30 potato growers converged on the Ministry yesterday morning to press their demands.

A joint announcement by the three unions identifies Finance Minister Takis Klerides as their bête noire, stating he had repeatedly refused to meet growers’ representatives to discuss the compensation issue.

The protest seemed to do the trick yesterday, with Klerides agreeing to meet with a deputation from the unions.

The minister told the delegation they were wrong to think the £5 million was the sum total of the money they were likely to get.

“The government sees your issue sympathetically which is why it has given – and this is not the final amount – £5 million and then approved about £5 million extra for the Potato Marketing Board,” Klerides said.

The Minister added that the compensation issue would be considered anew by the cabinet tomorrow.

If the potato growers did not like what the cabinet came up with then he would be open to discussing the issue anew, Klerides said.

Farmers’ unions are, however, not presenting a united front on the compensation issue, with Panagroticos staying away from yesterday’s protest.

The other three unions lambasted this no-show, suggesting Panagroticos was “pandering to interests other than those of the growers” and attempting to “torpedo” the demonstration “in order not to offend the government.”

Panagroticos had originally agreed to join in the demonstration, Pek, Eka and Agrotiki stated in an announcement.

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