Farmers call for support over lack of water

Farmers affected by water cuts need to receive financial support, farmers union Pek said on Monday.

“We ask the president of the Republic to intervene and take appropriate action, announcing financial support for our farmers and more projects so that the needs of the primary sector are met,” Panagrotikos said.

According to the association, several of its members have reported being informed by the water development department that they will not be provided with water.

“Without any consultation with the agricultural organisations, it is informing farmers that it will not provide them with water,” Panagrotikos said.

It warned of the current status quo, accusing the government of inaction in the face of ongoing challenges, including water scarcity, climate change and further droughts. This, Panagrotikos said, has led to water reservoir reserves reaching almost zero.

The association appealed to the government, stressing that it was the state’s responsibility to guarantee that farmers had sufficient water to irrigate their crops.

If this was not feasible, the farmers should be given financial compensation, Pek insisted, stressing that farmers needed to be able to rely on the continuous and uninterrupted supply of water to carry out their work.

At the same time, Panagrotikos acknowledged that financial compensation alone would not be enough to solve the issue, pointing out that the situation had already become far too critical.

“Panagrotikos and the other agricultural organisations were warning, but no one was listening, since the new desalination plant projects were announced only when we reached the point of no return,” the association continued.

Cyprus has been struggling with critically low water levels, with only 1.7 million cubic metres of water flowing into local dams since October.

This compares to a long-term average of water inflow in the same period over the past 30 to 35 years of at around 13 million cubic metres.

Water development department senior technical engineer Marios Hadjicostis in late December described the current reservoir levels as “tragic”, saying that dam levels continued to decline due to an imbalance of water consumption and inflow.

Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou, in early December said the island was currently going through the worst prolonged drought it has ever experienced, with 2025 being the worst year since 1901.

Her ministry has set water scarcity as one of its key priorities for 2026.

The audit office, in a report published in October, found that the overwhelming majority of Cyprus’ water bodies were in bad condition.

The report was later presented before the parliament, prompting the district self-governance organisations (EOA) to request economic assistance to be able to address the loss of water from reservoirs and ensure adequate water supply

Farmers meanwhile reiterated their demand for the establishment of a single water management organisation.