Cyprus’ Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment is to present on Thursday the National Strategy for the development of the primary sector, which was drawn up after an extensive dialogue with the agricultural organisations and all stakeholders, Minister Maria Panayiotou, said.

Speaking on Tuesday before the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Panayiotou said that the goal of the new strategy with 11 actions is to create the conditions and infrastructure for financing the development of the sector and not a grants-based policy.

“The aim is not to create a grants-based policy, but to create the conditions and infrastructure for the financing of the sector”, the Minister said during a discussion at the House Committee on Agriculture regarding the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2027.

The announcements of the Minister were welcomed by the agricultural organisations, which said this was a step in the right direction, highlighting, however, the problem of bureaucracy.

Human-centered CAP

Regarding the CAP, Panayiotou said that the Republic of Cyprus has clearly stated that the Common Agricultural Policy must be people-centered and give incentives to farmers, adding that in cases common arguments with the rest of the MED9 countries are raised, they promote common positions.

She also emphasised that the existing distribution of funds should be continued and should not be reduced.

Panayiotou also raised the issue of a flexible crisis management plan. “We want it to be flexible, direct and with faster and more simplified procedures and to take local specificities into account”, she said, adding that the reserve should be used, and reallocation should be made in case of unused funds in the country’s file.

In this context, Panayiotou referred to the crisis fund, to note that Cyprus requests that 2% of the envelope be used for needs that will arise as a result of external factors that cannot be foreseen today.

Among other things, the Minister of Agriculture emphasised the issue of environmental goals with a realistic timetable, saying that “the environmental philosophy of the new CAP must be realistic and in line with the goals”, but also that there should be an impact analysis and incentives should be given to farmers. She also underlined the issue of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, which are a characteristic of the Cypriot agricultural sector.

Responding to a comment by the President of the Committee, Giannakis Gavriel that he receives complaints about red tape, Panayiotou said that the Ministry was working to promote simplifications and was in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior to further simplify procedures.

The Minister of Agriculture underlined that beyond simplifying procedures there is also the matter of providing the financial tools to have access to the schemes, which is included in the 11 actions of the national strategy.

Referring to the existing projects that are now being run by the Ministry, Panayiotou said that, in addition to the small investment project that is underway with a budget of €10 million with provisions for smart irrigation systems, anti-hail-anti-rain systems and agro-photovoltaics, the circular economy measure was announced.