GOAT farmers from across the island yesterday spilt thousands of tonnes of milk onto the roads to protest the government’s lack of action in ensuring the halloumi prototype is followed.
The farmers cut off the roads at the Rizoelia roundabout in Larnaca and the Konia roundabout in Paphos, to protest the violation of regulations for the creation of halloumi, which state that 51 per cent of the milk used should be goat’s milk.
They said only one local industry used the amounts demanded by the law, resulting in farmers being left with thousands of tonnes of excess milk.
The head of the Goat Farmers Coordinating Committee, Panayiotis Constantinou, said the dairy industries’ main concern was to profit at the farmers’ expense. “They don’t care that this sector is going extinct due to their refusal to implement the prototype,” said Constantinou. “We demand the government immediately implements the prototype, leading all those breaking the law to justice and closing down their units.”
He added: “They can’t be making halloumi, calling it halloumi when there is just one or two per cent of goat’s milk in it.”
Constantinou called on the minister to implement his decision to create a committee that monitors halloumi manufacturers, as soon as possible.
At Rizoelia, around 150 goat farmers from the Larnaca, Famagusta and Nicosia districts blocked off the road at 11.30am for around 10 minutes, briefly creating traffic problems.
The farmers, who were following a vehicle on which they had placed a large coffin to signify the death of their trade, reached the roundabout and after demonstrating, they spilt around two tonnes of milk onto the road. They said they wanted to send the message that goat farming in Cyprus was in danger of extinction.
They then departed peacefully, but warned that they would return with more drastic measures in the future if no action was taken to resolve their problems.
In Paphos, a staggering 25 tonnes of milk were spilt onto the Konia roundabout, cutting off the Paphos-Limassol main road in both directions.
Their basic demand was for dairy industries to pick up all the necessary quantities of milk and for the prototype to be strictly followed. The Paphos farmers said only one industry purchased goat milk, while all the others refused to, resulting in massive surpluses reaching up to 25 tonnes having to be disposed of.
The farmers were joined by EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou and his party’s parliamentary candidates, as well as deputies from other parties, all of whom promised to support the farmers and put pressure on the government to implement the halloumi prototype. The farmers stayed put for over two hours, though one of the lanes opened up, leading to traffic having to be diverted.
