24/08/2023 08:47
The government has assured that there will be no shortage of grains for human consumption because it will take care of the issue before such a situation occurs.
Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Petros Xenophonos told a meeting of the House Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday that a meeting with grain importers has been arranged in the coming days "to examine whether the state needs to maintain reserves for human use and how".
Noting the ministry is resolving the problems, the Minister said the extraordinary Parliamentary Committee session on Agriculture, primarily discussed the issue concerning strategic grain reserves that arise after the release by the Grain Advisory Committee of up to 7,000 tons of grain, a quantity corresponding to 30% of the strategic reserves.
The Committee on Agriculture examined the matter following a proposal from Members of Parliament Yiannakis Gabriel, Andreas Pasiourtides, Valentinos Fakontis, Christos Orfanides, and Christos Senekis. Representatives of agricultural organizations attended the committee.
The Minister of Agriculture stated that as soon as the Ministry became aware of the problem of grain sufficiency in the market, "within a day, we took action to release a quantity (7,000 tons of grain from the strategic reserves) to meet the needs of our livestock farmers."
He said the relevant decree was published on 17th August and "therefore, we consider that the problem has been resolved." He added that "all agricultural organisations have welcomed and are fully satisfied with the Ministry’s actions.
Regarding the strategic grain reserves for human consumption, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Andreas Gregoriou, clarified that "the Ministry evaluated the grain reserves for human consumption and found that it was not necessary to maintain additional reserves because the existing reserves (for commercial purposes) were sufficient to meet the needs of the entire population for two to three months."
Gregoriou assured that the legislation was applied and no problem arose in terms of grain sufficiency. Regarding the decree stipulated by law to be issued annually until March 31 to ensure sufficiency for 15 days, covering 4% of the quantity of grains imported in the previous year, he said that the first decree of 2022 was legally contested by grain importers.
He further said that over 80% of the grains are imported for both animal feed and human consumption, and despite these difficulties, no problems arose. The livestock population increased, and milk productivity also increased.
Representatives of agricultural organizations, as well as sheep and goat farmers and livestock breeders, referred to the meeting with the Minister and stated that there was no issue with the strategic grain reserves and that there is a need to maintain these reserves. They also welcomed the Government's decision to release barley reserves, as it quickly provided the quantities demanded by livestock farmers.