Minister calls for more funding for small farms

Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou called for the European Union’s common agricultural policy to be “enriched” to support small and medium-sized farms, it was reported on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting of the European Union’s 27 agriculture ministers, she said many rural areas’ main source of income is agricultural production, and that for this reason, there should be greater funding for them under the common agricultural policy.

“The existing tools of the common agricultural policy should also be enriched with new innovative actions to support small and medium-sized farms and family-run farms, so that rural areas can remain competitive and attractive,” she said.

She added that in this regard, the EU must “design a holistic policy for the countryside”, so that the health, education, and housing infrastructure in the bloc’s rural areas can be upgraded and “alternative sources of employment” created.

This, she said, can be aided by the “digitisation of services” and an upgrade of internet connectivity in rural areas.

She pointed out that in Cyprus, such steps have already been made, with the government having announced in April that rural areas across the country are to receive “ultra-high-speed” fibreoptic internet networks.

The government at the time launched a €35 million project to expand fibreoptic coverage to “areas where there is no investment interest from the market” with plans to “ensure equal access to gigabit connectivity for everyone, without exception.”

The project is planned to be completed by 2026, with the deputy ministry of innovation to also invest €10m in subsidising new fibreoptic internet subscriptions for a total of 82,000 households.

In his speech at the project’s launch, Deputy Minister Nikodemos Damianou said he hopes Cyprus will become “the first country to achieve 100 per cent of its population being covered by ultra-high-speed mobile and broadband connectivity.

In addition to the upgrade of rural areas, Panayiotou also spoke on Monday on the matter of trade as it relates to agriculture.

She said she supports the ensuring of “smooth, fair, and rules-based food trade” between the EU and third countries.

“Trade with third countries must be based on trade agreements which safeguard the competitiveness of the EU’s agricultural sector by creating a level playing field, since European farmers produce their agricultural products under strict standards,” she said.

These standards, she added, “promote food safety, animal welfare, and environmental protection.”