Grape growers reach compromise with government

THE MAJORITY of grape growers said yesterday they were satisfied with the government’s proposal to financially support local wineries, enabling them to take on 50,000 tonnes of surplus grapes.

The decision was taken during a two-hour meeting at the Agriculture Ministry yesterday evening, after the government had requested more time to meet growers demands following meetings with Franz Fischler, the European Commissioner responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, who had been on an official visit to the island.

Speaking to reporters following the marathon meeting, Agriculture Minister Timis Efthymiou said the wineries would be given financial support to enable them to take on the surplus grapes. A move which had first been approved by the European Union, he said.

Efthymiou said the financial support would be given in such a way that wineries would be able to take on the surplus grapes in order to allow the industry to continue operating smoothly. However, it would only be for this year, he added.

The minister expressed the hope that this was a satisfactory solution for all parties involved in solving the problem and said the wineries had readily accepted to take on the surplus grapes.
Meanwhile, Efthymiou said the Farming Insurance Organisation had already been instructed to record the surplus grapes that had already been destroyed so that legal ways could be found to compensate the grape growers.

With EU accession, the government can no longer buy surplus produce and dump it, as had been the case in the past. The only compensation farmers can look forward to is per-hectare subsidisation. But grape growers were dissatisfied with the compensation offered and felt cheated, leading to yesterday’s compromise.

Although the majority of farming organisations were satisfied with the developments, Panagrotiko said it was not and reiterated its insistence for compensation on the surplus grapes for consumption.

Efthymiou added that he would be meeting with farming organisations next month to discuss ways to modernise the agriculture sector. During his visit to the island, Fischler pointed out it was not only the grape producing sector which was facing long term problems and needed to be reshaped, but the whole sector. Fischler also stressed the need for actions to be based on the long-term benefits of the sector and not short term.

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