Cypriot growers face foreign challenge
IT APPEARS that Cypriot potato growers have got more than just the government to battle to save their declining profession.
Potato growers around the island would have been alarmed at the very least when government figures, conducted by the State Statistical Services, revealed that importers from the United Kingdom were opting for potatoes from Israel, said to be of a far lower quality compared to the Cypriot kind.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, the Pancyprian Potato Growers Association Chairman Andreas Karios said potato growers need backing and one of the reasons for their current demonstrations is because they are lacking the kind of backing that would allow them to compete with foreign producers.
“It is a fact that our profession is being hurt by the Israeli potato and we are calling on the government to help us so that we can lower our production costs. But allowing Israel to dominate the European market will not even be a benefit to the UK in the long term.
“There is only so much Israel can handle and they will not be able to cope with exporting fresh potatoes if Cyprus, Spain and Egypt decide to back down with their exports. And in any case, the quality of the Cyprus potato will be sorely missed because sooner or later, the consumer will realise where the quality is.”
The UK has for years been one of the prime importers of Cypriot potatoes but the latest figures show a dramatic drop of 36 per cent of exports from 2000 to 2005 to the United Kingdom and a 75 per cent from 1995 to 2005 for all exports.
In 1995, Cypriot importers raked in a cool £43.1million in 1995 but the smiles turned to frowns when those figures dropped to £27.7million just ten years later. Most potato growers would prefer to forget 1997, as they accumulated just £8.4million due mostly to a bad harvest.
The United Kingdom imports potatoes from Cyprus, Spain, Egypt and most recently Israel. But it is not just the Cypriot potato growers that are suffering from the preferred Israeli option.
Spain has received an eight per cent blow and Egypt has also seen a 10 per cent drop in exports because of the introduction of the Israeli potato. Israel’s surge in the potato war for exports to the UK has seen a stunning 160 per cent increase for UK exports in the last decade.
There are two reasons as to why the Israeli potato is taking the European market by storm. One of the reasons is simply because Israeli potatoes are cheaper than Cypriot potatoes according to Karios.
“Although the British Revenue Services claim that Israeli potatoes are more expensive than Cypriot potatoes we know that that is not true. The Cypriot potatoes are cheaper than Israeli potatoes and we have proof to that effect, regardless of what others may say”.
British Revenue officials have stated that for 2005, Cypriot potatoes were being bought by the UK for 22 cents per kilo while Israeli potatoes were being bought for 30 cents per kilo.
Meanwhile the Chairman of the Cyprus Potato Marketing Board Neoclis Tsappis has stated that the Israeli potato also “looks good” and that the “glowing appearance of the Israeli potato is fooling the customer”.
“The Cypriot potatoes are by far much better quality than the Israeli potato and that is an undeniable fact. But the Israeli potato looks a lot shinier because of the certain type of sand-like soil, which the potatoes are planted in, that gives them their glowing appearance.
“Our potatoes, on the other hand, are grown in the unique red earth of Cyprus which gives them that special taste. Also the actual cost for the harvest of these Israeli potatoes is cheaper than our harvest.”
No solution to demonstrations deadlock
THERE IS still no progress in the deadlock between the government and potato growers.
The Pancyprian Potato Growers Association Chairman Andreas Karios yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that there were still no developments in the deadlock and that he was not sure what the next move was.
The potato growers have been striking for two weeks now and had blocked the Larnaca–Ayia Napa motorway as part of their protests.
But they decided to ease off their measures “as a sign of goodwill” last Monday by freeing up two of the four lanes thus sending a message “that they too should now respond to their gesture of goodwill by meeting with them to discuss their demands.”
Meanwhile, President Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday set up a special ministerial committee to examine the various issues surrounding the growers of the Agriculture sector and the export of Cypriot potatoes. It was also announced that the committee would enter talks with the various agricultural sectors provided that they end their demonstration measures.
Officials of the committee also stated that they would not discuss the demands that have been put forward by some of the various agricultural growers.
Potato growers around the island are demanding subsidies from the government and cash incentives to leave the profession, totalling around £27 million. But the action plan designed by the Ministry, which is part of a broader Rural Development Plan, will see just £5 million given to the potato growers, an amount they are not accepting even to discuss with the Ministry.
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