Cyprus's agricultural organisations are pressing the Ministry of Agriculture for additional irrigation water allocations, with a particular focus on the Southern Conveyor network, arguing that the extra 3.5 million cubic metres approved by the Council of Ministers on 9 June falls short of what is needed for both seasonal and permanent crops. Their push is backed by better-than-expected rainfall this spring, which has pushed dam storage to 131 million cubic metres, covering 43.6% of total capacity, well above the roughly 20% recorded at the same point last year.
Tasos Giapanис, general secretary of Panagrotikos, told Politis that of the 3.5 million cubic metres approved, 2 million have been allocated to the Paphos Large Irrigation Project area, leaving only 1.5 million cubic metres for farmers on the Southern Conveyor Unified Scheme, which covers Kokkinochoria, Larnaca and Limassol. The organisations have submitted a formal request to the Ministry of Agriculture for at least an additional 3.5 million cubic metres for seasonal crops along the Southern Conveyor, including potato cultivation, and a further 1.5 million cubic metres for permanent tree crops such as olives and citrus.
Crop-by-crop assessment
The issue was raised directly with the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment at a meeting last week, according to Michalis Lytras, honorary president of the Farmers Union of Cyprus (PEK). "We are asking for additional water to be released because we had more rainfall than we had anticipated at the start of the year, when the water cuts were decided," he said.
Lytras was clear that the request is not simply for across-the-board increases along the Southern Conveyor. What the organisations want, he said, is for the Water Development Department and the agricultural bodies to sit down together and examine which crops across Cyprus require additional quantities, taking into account the different water levels available from dams in different regions. A blanket increase for all areas would not be appropriate, he added.
Giapanис noted that all the agricultural organisations have written jointly to the minister requesting a meeting on irrigation water distribution. "We are at the end of June," he said. "The first half of the year has already passed, dam capacity stands at around 44% against 20% at the same point last year, and given that there is water in the dams, we are asking for more to be released for seasonal crops."
He also sounded a more urgent warning about the potato sector. New potato planting is scheduled to begin around the end of August and early September, requiring large volumes of water. If those volumes are not secured, the consequences could extend well beyond this season. The Potato Marketing Board, which holds export contracts with overseas buyers, along with SEDIGEP Limassol and private traders, could lose those contracts entirely, with Cypriot potatoes disappearing from supermarket shelves in those countries. Regaining that shelf space, Giapanис warned, could take the best part of a decade.
Three-year planning framework
Following the Council of Ministers decision to release the additional 3.5 million cubic metres, the Ministry of Agriculture explained in an announcement that the decision forms part of a new strategic water resources management framework, which for the first time introduces three-year planning cycles to ensure water adequacy and the maintenance of safe reserves. Despite the improvement in dam levels recorded over the first months of the year, the ministry said, available data still require prudent and responsible management in order to avoid the mistakes of the past. The new allocation has therefore been based on the most unfavourable scenario for future hydrological conditions.
