ANGRY wheat growers gathered with their tractors across the island yesterday lunchtime bringing heavy traffic to a standstill in some areas after leaving a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture Timis Efthymiou unsatisfied with the Ministry’s subsidy offer which fell almost £3million short of their demands.
Wheat growers caused the most congestion at the Larnaca roundabout just off the highway and at the Nisou turnoff on the Nicosia – Limassol highway. Some wheat growers even hid the keys of their tractors in an effort to prevent police from trying to move the tractors themselves.
The wheat growers have been demanding £5 million in subsidies from the Ministry to cover their losses but the Ministry informed the wheat growers that it can only offer them some £2million which the wheat growers have continuously rejected. Previously Efthymiou had stated that the Ministry could not offer more than £2million because the government of Cyprus would be going against EU legislation.
“We are obliged to operate under EU laws and that is what we will do. Otherwise we risk being penalised. After strenuous efforts we were able to offer a maximum subsidy of £2 million to the wheat growers.
“Instead of compromising their demands as they said they would do last week, they continued insisting on their demand of £5 per hectare,” Efthymiou said.
Furious wheat growers gathered outside the Ministry yelling their disgust at the decision which they say was simply aimed at destroying them. One angry wheat grower shouted, “For months they have been making fun of us. They are trying to break us down. Enough is enough!”
Equally unimpressed was the head of the wheat growers Andreas Theophanous who told state radio, “Today we requested one thing from the Minister and that was to examine the hectares on our fields and calculate how much they are worth. Unfortunately I believe that the Ministry is being dishonest and not telling us the correct worth of the hectares.
“We were asking for the Minister to give us the cost damages just for last year and not this year so we can get by and in every instance he just replied ‘no, no, no!’. Every time they have a problem and their backs are to the wall they use the European Union card and I will tell you that there are other ways in to help us without upsetting the European Union. All these are just excuses.”
Theophanous added that the farmers would not budge from where they are until their demands were met and called on the Minister to finally put an end to the ordeal.
“We have the backing of many different kinds of kinds of farmers who stand by our stance on the matter and if the Minister has the decency to call us in and hand us a proper solution to our problems, then will get into our tractors and head off back to our homes.
“We don’t want to make trouble for anyone but we have been given no alternative and we are now fighting for our survival. This is the harsh reality of the situation and I cannot understand why the Ministry cannot understand this. We will not give in either to the Ministry or the police until our demands have been met,” he said.
Police spokesman Demetris Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail that road blocks made by the wheat growers caused big traffic problems on roads around the island.
“The Paphos – Polis Chrysochous road was for some time closed, the roundabout at Kalo Chorios in Larnaca had been blocked off for some time also and just outside the village of Nisou, the Limassol – Nicosia highway was also closed off and drivers were forced to turn off at Pera Chorio to avoid being stuck in the traffic.
“The blocking off of the roads caused serious problems to traffic, with some cars stuck in traffic for hours and complaints have obviously been flooding in. We were negotiating continuously with the farmers so they could reopen the roads. No incidents were reported during the night.”
However, Theophanous argued that it was not the wheat growers that were blocking the traffic but the police, “We haven’t actually blocked off the roads. We have just blocked off one lane and it is the police that have blocked off the roads completely. The police should not be trying to blame everything on us. We don’t want to be a nuisance to the public; we just want to take over one lane to send a message to the people about our problems and, at the same time, send a message of protest to the government.”
Meanwhile, drivers going to and from Larnaca were locked in heavy traffic angrily complaining that they had been stuck for between one to three hours. One driver told the Cyprus Mail, “This is ridiculous. I have been waiting here for two hours. These people have to understand that some of us have to get home and it is not my fault that they have problems with the Ministry.”
The mood later cooled down with some tractors retreating thus allowing traffic to flow. The wheat growers gathered at their head quarters in Athienou in an urgent meeting to discuss their next move.
