Nicosia, Cyprus. As mass culling continues to address a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Cyprus, agricultural organisations have called for the same measures to be imposed in the north, where the first incidences on the island were reported in December 2025.
Calls for island-wide measures
Chairman of the sheep and goat herders’ group of producers Soteris Kadis told the Cyprus News Agency that without matching measures in the north, the situation remained dangerous.
Kadis said the European Union would not accept derogations on the government-controlled side and argued it should impose the same measures in the occupied areas, adding that the EU funds them with €12 million per year and sent animals last year.
Crossing points and containment efforts
Chairman of Panagrotikos organisation Kyriakos Kailas said taking the necessary measures was the only way to stop the disease from spreading, and noted that farmers had been calling for the closure of crossing points for months.
Kailas said strict measures were being taken in units where incidences were identified and that the aim was to save as many farms as possible.
Culling, compensation, and operational limits
Kailas said animals would be culled, units would be sacrificed, and farmers would be compensated in full.
He said these were the intentions of the government and described them as being in the right direction, while adding that meetings were difficult because protests could arise, and that the protocol had to be followed faithfully to stop the disease.
Kailas also said fragmenting units was not possible because units were close together and there was nowhere else to move animals.
What further measures do you think should be prioritised to prevent the disease from spreading?
