President Nikos Christodoulides announced a nine-point support package for livestock farmers on Monday as Cyprus’s foot-and-mouth outbreak continues to spread, pledging full compensation, income support and a long-term plan to rebuild the sector.
Speaking at the Presidential Palace after a Cabinet meeting, Christodoulides said the government had already decided on 5 March to offer advance compensation of up to €50,000 per unit, conditional on the number of animals and completion of culling.
He said payments had begun and all eligible farmers would receive funds within the following week.
The new package sets out three goals: full compensation for those affected, income support, and a rapid return to livestock production. Christodoulides described it as comprising nine concrete measures.
The first provides immediate compensation for hay, animal feed and animal products. The second offers 12 months of income support for affected farmers who resume operations, to be calculated individually on the basis of actual income, tax returns and milk delivery records.
Under the third measure, the government will take responsibility for sourcing animals from disease-free areas outside Cyprus, with priority given to purchases from domestic units. The fourth measure provides full coverage of the costs of required analyses, laboratory tests and vaccines.
The fifth measure introduces special support for farmers affected by the grazing ban, calculated according to the number of animals and the permanent grazing land available to each holding. The sixth exempts affected farmers from rents and fees on livestock plots on state land or Turkish Cypriot properties for 2026.
A special investment scheme to upgrade affected units forms the seventh measure, while the eighth extends support to farmers not directly hit by the disease but caught within restriction zones and suffering commercial losses.
The president also announced enhanced restrictions for livestock units within the British Bases, referring specifically to Pergamos.
The ninth and final measure is the establishment of a Special Scientific Committee to oversee the reconstruction and modernisation of the livestock sector over a ten-year horizon.
The committee, to be headed by Stavros Malas, will include scientists, farmers and representatives of the Agriculture Ministry, Interior Ministry and farming organisations, and is expected to submit recommendations within three months.
Christodoulides attributed the government’s ability to respond to its strict fiscal discipline, saying this had given Cyprus the capacity to absorb both external and internal crises.
Read more: