Eight months after the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the nightmare of culling has resurfaced. The five livestock farms that tested positive for antibodies are ultimately being culled following recommendations from the European Commission, with the despair of the farmers once again on their faces once more.
“They’ve set out to destroy us, to drive us into the ground—why did they do this to us? I was 19 years old when I first picked up the pitchforks—why did they make us do this work if they don’t want it?”
Pavlos Lazarou – Livestock Farmer
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Pain, anger, and despair characterize not only the livestock farmers who are currently affected but also those who have already lost their animals, as they watch their efforts to resume operations reach a dead end.
“Since we’re talking about culling, we’re at the biggest impasse for rebuilding our herds. Even those who survived want us to cull them with mathematical precision, because if they didn’t want us to cull them, we wouldn’t be talking about culling today—six months later.”
Neophytos Neophytou – President of the “Voice of Livestock Farmers” Organization
A major source of anxiety for livestock farmers is their financial viability, as they are unable to work and have no income.
“It’s unacceptable that they’re taking our milk and I’m getting a 530-euro monthly pension—how are we supposed to live? We can’t sell lambs, we can’t sell milk, we can’t sell anything.”
Lazaros Lazarou – Livestock Farmer
“There’s all this lost income that people haven’t received, and nobody cares. We keep hearing, ‘It’ll go to the cabinet,’ ‘it’ll, it’ll, it’ll’… but all those ‘it’lls’ don’t put food on the table; they don’t feed families.”
Neophytos Neophytou
The total number of animals expected to be culled reaches 3,000, with livestock farmers asking the government and veterinary services to provide assurances regarding the amounts of compensation they will receive, as well as when they will be able to resume operations.
“Why are they killing us off? They’re killing us off, and we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, since there won’t be a tomorrow…And they’re telling me that in 21 days we’ll be able to bring in animals—so in 21 days, will the virus be gone? Will the virus be gone in 21 days? And are the veterinarians telling us all this?”
Pavlos Lazarou – Livestock Farmer
The Minister of Agriculture also heard the concerns of the affected livestock farmers; while attending an event in Athenou, he decided to visit them at their gathering point in ARadippou.
“I explained to the people gathered there why these specific measures are being taken and that we will proceed with compensation in line with the compensation received by previous livestock farmers whose farmsthat lost their animals in the recent period.”
Christos Senekis – Minister of Agriculture
The five affected livestock farmers will visit the Ministry of Agriculture, where they will meet with an official from the Minister of Agriculture’s office, the ministry’s director general, and the director of veterinary services.
The Minister of Agriculture announced the gradual resumption of operations at livestock farms under stricter biosecurity measures, while providing assurances regarding compensation. As he noted, on October 2, an agreement was reached between the directors-general of the Ministries of Agriculture and Finance to pay compensation for lost income in two installments: 50% upon ordering the animals and the remaining 50% upon their arrival at the farms.
“There are already farms that are ready to resume operations; they have sent samples for analysis of control animals that will be placed on their farms. So I believe there is a possibility that by late October or early November, some facilities will be able to resume operations with control animals.”
Christos Senekis
Among the livestock farmers’ requests is that animals testing positive only for antibodies not be culled—a point on which the Veterinary Services will need to convince the European Commission.
Unpaid
“I haven’t been paid for five months; they culled my herd, and I still haven’t been paid. Why? Because they say they found 12 animals on my farm that weren’t mine. On the day the culling took place, I have all the camera footage—they brought the animals in unchecked…”
Livestock farmer
Regarding the four livestock farmers who have not yet received compensation, the Minister of Agriculture assured them that they will be compensated for all the animals they legally owned. In fact, on October 14, they will meet with the Legal Service to receive final legal assurances so they can proceed with the payments.
Watch Eleni Michael’s report:
