Potato crops damaged in Famagusta due to severe weather

More than 40 per cent of potato crops in the Famagusta area were damaged by the bad weather, the head of the potato producer’s association Andreas Karyos said on Wednesday.

He added that “the rainfall that occurred yesterday in the Kokkinochoria area is more than enough; many potato plantations, the most in the region, have been flooded”.

Karyos noted that the entire potato plantation in the district has been affected by the rainfall and flooding. However, he explained, ‘We cannot see them at the moment because it will take ten to 15 days before we can get into the fields and assess the extent of the potato rot.’

He also said that potato fields were flooded in all the communities where this product is planted in Kokkinochoria, including Ormideia, Xylofagou – which was hit by hail last week – and Paralimni.

“Fortunately, the destruction in the flooded potato plantation areas, which include early, mid-early and late potato crops, is not total, but we estimate that the damage is more than 40 per cent,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said that “when there are such severe weather events, we inform the officials of the Department of Agriculture, who visit the areas and see the problem that exists. However, an announcement for damage declarations will be made when the officials manage to enter the flooded potato fields and see that there is more than 30 per cent damage”.