The Cabinet has approved a €1.15 million programme aimed at modernising Cyprus’ livestock sector and supporting the country’s target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 32% by 2030.
The three-year programme, covering 2026 to 2028, was approved following a proposal by the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment. It will focus on monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from livestock.
The need for the new programme stems from data showing that emissions from agriculture have increased by 17.3% since 1990 and now account for 6.6% of the country’s total emissions.
The initiative builds on a previous project carried out by the Agricultural Research Institute, which was completed in 2025. That project enabled an updated recalculation of emissions from agriculture and contributed to significant savings for the state through the emissions trading system.
The earlier programme, which focused on nitrogen fertilisers, achieved a 70% reduction in the calculation of related emissions and generated annual savings of €4.8 million for the state through the emissions trading system.
The new research programme, which will be fully funded from national resources, will focus specifically on the climate footprint of livestock. According to the proposal by the Ministry of Agriculture, specialised analyses will be carried out to determine the actual emissions of Cyprus’ livestock sector.
The data gathered will be used to design measures under the next Strategic Plan for Rural Development. Five fixed-term employees will be hired for a period of 24 months to support the project.
Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou said the programme will carry out specialised measurements and analyses to accurately determine the sector’s real emissions. The aim, she said, is to develop targeted policy measures to reduce emissions from the livestock sector and to strengthen the scientific evidence base needed to support documented interventions and management measures with a measurable climate impact.
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