Panagrotikos warns over unpaid FMD compensation and delays to farm reopening

Nicosia, Cyprus. Four livestock units affected by foot and mouth disease (FMD) are still awaiting compensation, Panagrotikos chairman Kyriakos Kailas said on Thursday. He warned that unless work to restart affected farms began within 20 days, the association would demand immediate compensation for lost income.

Outstanding payments and reopening concerns

Kailas said delays in compensation were raising concerns about whether the affected livestock operations could resume.

“The decision is that everyone should be paid, without exception. You cannot promise someone before their execution that they will be compensated and then find some justified or unjustified reasons not to pay that amount,” he said.

He maintained that compensation should be paid while any irregularities were investigated.

Kailas said people could not be told after seven or eight months that they would not be working and then be expected to continue waiting. While acknowledging the difficulties, he said those responsible also needed to recognise that livestock operators had to return to work.

Criticism of support package

Turning to the scale of financial support, Kailas said Panagrotikos had told the authorities at a meeting two weeks earlier that the compensation offered was inadequate and that the sectors concerned were not benefiting as much as the association wanted.

He said the €4.6 million provided through European funding could have been increased by 200 per cent, but that this had not happened because the finance minister held a different view.

According to Kailas, a larger allocation would have allowed more substantial assistance and brought currently excluded sectors into the support package.

He described the primary sector as declining daily. Although Panagrotikos had welcomed the measures as a positive move, he said the support should have been more generous.

Kailas also opposed the government’s plans to subsidise agricultural diesel.