AS MANY as 116,000 sheep and goats on the island – almost one in four – are to be culled after the Court of Justice of the European Communities decided measures needed to be taken following the appearance of scrapie.
The decision was reached following an appeal by France, with all Member States required to destroy all animals within an infected herd.
The animals do not carry the ARR genotype known to be resistant to the disease.
Animals aged up to three months may still be used for human consumption.
Previously, a loophole existed whereby a Member State could delay culling by five breeding years, which essentially meant that fewer numbers ended up being culled.
Over 80,000 goats and 33,000 sheep on 679 farms are affected in Cyprus.
The Agriculture Minister said yesterday that the cull would have serious implications on the economy as well as on society – milk, cheese and meat production will lessen, leading to an increase in prices.
Minister Fotis Fotiou said that there will be a chain reaction in many other sectors of the economy, dependent on agriculture, adding that, “Cyprus will be the country in the EU most affected by the ruling, as 25 per cent of our sheep and goats will disappear.”
There is also the problem of disposal, with 10,000 tonnes of carcasses on the hands of the authorities if the cull goes ahead by the end of October, as called for.
He added that the matter has taken on such extreme proportions that it may lead to the direct involvement of President Papadopoulos himself.
Fotiou has pencilled in an immediate meeting with EU Health Commissioner Marcos Kyprianou, adding: “What we can say? There is no doubting that we will not put public health at risk.”
Farmers will be compensated to the tune of £55 for each animal, half of which will be paid for by the EU.
“We are talking about a huge figure, roughly £6.5 million,” the Minister said.
Stockbreeders are enraged and warned that if the Ministry goes ahead with the slaughter, there will be strong reaction equalling the bloody uprising of farmers in Greece decades ago.
Vice-President of the Goat and Sheep Producers Committee Spyros Leventis said that producers would not accept the mass killing of entire flocks if only one or two animals were infected.
“We are stunned by these developments as until recently, we were told that there were no problems,” he said.
“If a whole flock or even 80 out of 100 animals are culled, breeders will be left with no income whatsoever and will not simply accept the compensation package proposed by the government.”
Leventis also said that the situation was only as severe as it is today due to the failings of the government 15 years ago.
“A farmer imported Friesian sheep from Germany infected with scrapie. Two years later, he realised they were sick and proceeded to sell them to the government for a high price. The government saw that the males were good breeders and encouraged reproduction, resulting in a mass infection.”
He said all the male animals should have been tested before being allowed to breed, but nobody listened to their suggestions.
“We are now left with a catastrophic situation which will cause untold damage to the livelihood of farmers.”
He also questioned the motives behind the mass cull, saying certain EU countries had deliberately sought to compromise Cyprus’ milk-producing capabilities in order to lessen production of halloumi.
“The production of the cheese, along with many meat products, involves subjecting certain ingredients to temperatures over 100 degrees Celsius, meaning there is no danger to humans.”
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