Farmers count the cost of hailstorm

FARMERS from mountain communities in the Paphos and Limassol districts were counting their losses yesterday, 24 hours after freak torrential rains and hailstorms wiped out their crops.

Agriculture Minister Fotis Fotiou pledged immediate aid to the ravaged areas, and said authorities would be mobilised to repair damage to infrastructure.
Amiandos, Chandria, Pelendri, Agros, Kyperounda and Polystipos villages, all located at high altitude, were the hardest hit.

The two-hour deluge – which in different circumstances would have been welcome – lashed seasonal crops, fruit-bearing trees and vines, and flooded irrigation canals and roads, making access to the areas difficult even yesterday.
In some of the fields, the ice had still not melted.

Distressed villagers reported hail the size of walnuts, saying they had seen nothing like it all their lives.

The majority are elderly people totally dependent on revenue from farming.
Agricultural organisations spoke of a catastrophe of Biblical proportions.
Touring the afflicted areas, Fotiou said he had instructed the relevant departments to assess the damage so that compensation procedures could be initiated as soon as possible.

The minister said the government would give assistance over and above what farmers were entitled to from the agriculture insurance fund.
Panicos Prastitis, secretary of agricultural organisation Panagrotikos, said farmers were still owed some £1.5 million in compensation for damages suffered in previous years.

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