Agricultural Problems In Cyprus

The backbone of Cyprus providence when it achieved its independence was agriculture. The study contribution came from small farms and at times from subsistence farms. Exportation of vegetables and fruits were made possible by irrigation projects in the 19 sixties. The demands for wine, meat and dairy products were met by commercialized farming.In the early xix sevensometies, the farms supplied more or less seventy percent of goodness exports and employed one third of the islands active population despite the fact that the farms were still overwhelmingly small1. However, the elaborateness of manufacturing and service sphere led to a decline in the importance of agriculture.The circumstances of agricultures Gross municipal Product in the first half of the 19 seventies amounted to ogdoadeen percent.The northern Turkish sporting lady community was left in possession of rural resources with the nightclubteen seventy four de facto division of the island. It produced four-f ifth of texture and citrus crops, all of the tobacco and devil thirds of the green fodder.The south on the other hand retain the entire islands grape growe areas and deciduous fruit orchards. The south was as well as in possession of astir(predicate) seventy fiver percent of the valuable potato crops and other vegetables and half of the islands olive trees. It also had 60 three percent of its carob trees.Two thirds of the livestock population was also in the south. A large scale uncoordinated exchange of hoidenish labor between the north and south was created by the Turkish blood of the region2. This led to agricultural unemployment which was countered by government actions. Such government actions included assisting farmers financially under damage that would enable them to carry out their activities without much burden.By cardinal seventy eight, the number of individuals employed in the agricultural sector under government controlled area constituted twenty three percent of the working population. The agricultural sectors workforce however declined to 20.7 percent in nineteen seventy nine and 15.8 percent in nineteen eighty seven3.Its contribution to the overall economy of the state also declined from 17.3 percent GDP in nineteen seventy six to ten charge seven percent in nineteen seventy nine and a further seven point seven percent in nineteen 90 eight4.This share was vital to the economy of the south. In nineteen eighty eight, value added in agriculture at aeonian nineteen ninety five prices amounted to one hundred and twelve million-seven hundred thousand Cyprus pound.As the service sector increasingly became dominant in the economy of the Greek Cypriots, the share of agriculture in the national economy declined even further in the nineteen nineties. However, the favorable climate of the region and the availability of market owing to its location still mean that agriculture will continue playing an important and stable section in the overall economy.The irrigation projects set by the government, tax policies and subsidies encouraged the existence of farming as hearty as research in exotic crops and new varieties of the ones that already exist. The effort to improve agriculture, forestry and fishing was overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources.This ministry was supported by Agricultural Research Institute, Meteorological Service, Department of Water Services, the veterinarian Service and the Department of Geological Survey5. All these departments worked together in formulation of policies that affect the sector.The government also encouraged agriculture in addition to macroeconomic considerations since it offered the rural population employment which hold backed settlement life and relieved urban crowding. Part time agricultural work also allowed the urban residents to maintain contact with their villages besides offering them supplemental income.The contribution of agriculture to the national e conomy has steady declined. However, in the past decade it has stabilized between three and four percent6. In 2004, the contribution of agriculture to exports went up to twenty four percent which is the highest since nineteen ninety six. This is near the historical thirty four division sightly.The number of individuals employed in the agricultural sector has also declined remarkably. In 2005, only four point eight percent were employed in the agricultural sector as compared to about thirty percent in nineteen sixties.This percentage is however higher(prenominal) for men at 5.7 percent than women at 3.7 percent7. Of this population, about are holders and family members while the remaining one out of five are employees. These numbers are big in crop than in livestock sector. Since 2001, full time working equivalent has been around seven percent.In 2003, the gross agricultural output went up and remained steady through 2004. However, with regard to quantity, the crop output has been steadily falling and is about eighty eight percent of what it used to be in nineteen ninety five.On the other hand, livestock output has been going up and now stands at above one-hundred percent of the nineteen ninety five figures. In 2004, prices were fourteen percent higher than in 1995 with the crop prices recording higher percentage points than livestock prices. Crop prices were between five to twenty percent higher even though the gap is being closed by livestock prices.Overview of agricultural and rural sector developmentCrop area exist of thirty percent permanent crop area and seventy percent temporary crop area. active forty to forty five percent of the total area hold cereals with fifteen to twenty percent of the total holding fodder crops which shows a decrease after a steady increase until two thousand8.Vine area has recorded a decrease from eighteen percent in nineteen ninety to xi percent of the total in two thousand and two. This was largely due to the incentives t hat were paid to farmers in an judge to avoid over intersection of vines.A small increase was exhibited by olives on olive oil production to eight percent of the total. Citrus recorded a decrease by one percent in the stratum two thousand but has then been stable. Three percent of the total area is occupied by fresh fruits. Both the fresh fruits and citrus are completely irrigable. Uncultivated land remained relatively invariable at between thirty five and forty percent of the total area.The most extreme vacillation was recorded by barley with thirty seven thousand tons being produced in the twelvemonth two thousand as compared with one-hundred and twenty eight thousand tons produced two years later. An average yield of two point four tons per hectare is represented by the 2002 production.The fluctuation highlight Cyprus bimonthly water shortage and the annual weather changes. The falling grapes production represents the decrease in the cultivated area. after(prenominal) a big decrease in the year two thousand, the production of grape fruit has steadied.Generally, the production of citrus fruits has shown a gradual decrease since nineteen ninety but it has steadied to some extent during the past a few(prenominal) years. Extreme fluctuations are not often recorded by potatoes but their large share in agricultural output and exports implies that their fluctuation impacts greatly on agricultural economy.Olives have incessantly increased to reach more than twenty seven thousand tons. This figure is twice what it was some few years ago. This can be attributed to the increase in irrigable land.