SHEEP and goat farmers yesterday continued their protest over the halloumi prototype by throwing over 20 tonnes of milk on the street leading up to the Presidential Palace, saying another eight tonnes would be spilled into a field.
On Monday, farmers started their protest by spilling 15 tonnes of milk.
In both incidents, police tried to intervene causing a bit of tension. But no serious scuffles broke out.
“We will remain here until we have clear answers over what will happen,” said one farmer, Panayiotis Constantinou.
A meeting last night between Agriculture Minister Sophocles Aletraris and the dairy manufacturers failed to yield any results. The meeting was to decide whether the dairies would take the excess milk.
Prior to this meeting Constantinou said they would continue their protest till Friday, when a final decision over buying the milk is set to be taken.
At issue is the future of halloumi as an EU-recognised Cypriot product. The 1985 prototype states that the majority of milk used to manufacture halloumi must be sheep and goat milk, though farmers claim this was never followed.
Furthermore, they claim dairy industries have been refusing to buy their milk of late, leading to tonnes going to waste.
Exiting the presidential palace earlier in the day, Aletraris called on the farmers to leave and return on Friday, when a meeting had been scheduled in the presence of new Commerce Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis.
“A final solution must be found on Friday,” said Aletraris, who told farmers: “I personally can see where you are coming from.
One of the farmers said he was owed almost €80,000 from dairy industries, while another claimed he was expecting over €130,000. “There are farmers that haven’t been paid in almost a year,” Constantinou said. “(The manufacturers) see it is easier to use powder or cow milk, so they take us for granted.”
The farmers contradicted cheese makers’ reasoning that there was only enough goat and sheep milk production to cover four months of the dairy industry’s yearly needs.
“We have milk; I produce around a tonne a day of goat milk and I haven’t found one cheese manufacturer to buy it,” one of the protesting farmers said.
Another, Michalakis Hadjicostas, added: “We produce 15 tonnes a day. And if manufacturers paid us what they owe when they owe it, we could produce even more.”
Cheese makers recently decided to withdraw a request to the EU to have halloumi registered as a protected designation of origin (PDO), as they said they couldn’t live up to the prototype as there wasn’t enough sheep and goat milk production.
Andreas Andreou, the secretary of the Cyprus Dairy Products Manufacturers Association, yesterday said he wasn’t aware of any financial disputes between cheese makers and farmers.
“We don’t have such information, so I can’t confirm or deny it,” said Andreou. “Supermarkets owe the manufacturers, so it is a vicious circle.”
Andreou said the farmers were lying about having enough milk to meet the dairies’ needs. “At this time of year there are always problems with increased sheep and goat milk production,” he said.
“Starting from July until the end of October, the percentages of goat and sheep milk production are very low, not even covering five per cent of the cheese manufacturers’ needs,” Andreou said. “Saying they have the ability to produce enough milk… is a false argument. This is recognised by the Agriculture and Commerce Ministers, which is why they are trying to find a compromise”.
