Potato crop destroyed by frost

SEVENTY per cent of potato crops suffered extensive damage in the Famagusta district, farmers complained yesterday.

AKEL deputy Yiannakis Gabriel told reporters the damage caused to crops due to the past three nights’ freezing temperatures had brought about irreversible damage. He said the damage was 80 to 90 per cent complete and had been verified by Agriculture department officials who had visited the area.

Gabriel said the Farmers’ Organisation and the Agriculture Ministry had to make a record of the damages so that the farmers could be compensated as soon as possible after going to enormous expense to invest in their crops. Without compensation potato farmers would be unable to support their families, he added.

Potato farmer Adamos Fellas from Sotira village in the Famagusta district said the destruction had taken on biblical proportions. He said the crops had been planted three months ago and that at the start of March they had been due for export to Britain and other countries.

“They can no longer cope after the past three nights’ freeze,” he said.

The potato farmer explained that the spuds were no bigger than a partridge egg and the larger ones were no bigger than a chicken egg, which were not tradable.

“That’s why we are calling on the Farmers’ Association to visit the potato plantations to evaluate the damage and to go ahead with the compensation,” he said.

The farmers explained that the reason they hadn’t watered the crops during the past few nights during the freeze was because of the rainfall this year. They said the fields were already very damp and that had they been watered they risked damaging the potatoes further.

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