The north’s ‘agriculture minister’ Huseyin Cavus on Sunday promised new, stricter price controls for lamb meat, amid the latest wave of people being caught attempting to smuggle meat from the Republic to the north.
Speaking to Kibris TV, he said that while the price of livestock has decreased in recent months, the retail price for meat paid at butcher’s shops in the north has remained the same, and that this is “unacceptable”.
As such, he said, he will now work with ‘economy minister’ Olgun Amcaoglu and ‘finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova to tighten controls.
“The entire process, from milk production to meat prices, is under control, and we will prevent any price fluctuations,” he said.
The Turkish Cypriot police had announced on Sunday morning that five people had been fined on Saturday after attempting to smuggle a combined total of 58 kilograms of meat from the Republic to the north via the Ledra Palace crossing point on Saturday.
The subject of meat has been a hot topic in the north all year, with farmers having spent a week protesting outside ‘government’ buildings at the end of May against plans to import meat from abroad with the aim of driving down prices.
Meat is markedly more expensive in the north than in the Republic, with the prices of many other products in the north now exceeding their equivalents in the Republic.
However, previous attempts to implement price controls have not seen unadulterated success, with the ‘government’ announcing such measures in April, and butchers then implementing service fees to sidestep the regulation.
The fee typically ranged between 10 and 15 per cent of the retail price of the meat, thus effectively allowing butchers to charge more.
Cavus on Sunday also touched on the matter of the ongoing bluetongue disease outbreak, saying that 133 farms across the north are currently being quarantined.
“We are closely monitoring the animals’ health, and with the aim of preventing the spread of the epidemic, our teams are now applying pesticides twice a day,” he said, adding that a fund has now been set up to compensate farmers whose animals have died of the disease.
Cavus’ ministry had said on Friday that in addition to earlier detections near Famagusta, Lefkoniko, and Rizokarpaso, the disease had now been detected near the villages of Trikomo and Vatili.
On the ground, it said it is now working together with municipalities in the north to reduce the number of flies present and added that “all municipalities have been informed about the disease and about the methods to control it”.
Additionally, it said, insecticides have been distributed to the affected farms.
“Bluetongue disease causes an epidemic in [the north] every three or four years, typically though flies carried by winds from Africa and the Middle East. The disease, which is not normally seen in the northern hemisphere, has started to be seen in European countries as flies migrate north due to global warming,” it said.
The alarm over the disease was initially raised on Wednesday by the north’s animal producers’ and breeders’ union chairman Mustafa Naimogullari.
He said the disease “is bringing sheep and goat farmers to their knees” and has now spread to farms from Rizokarpaso all the way to Nicosia.
“The flies which landed on the dead animals then transmitted the disease to other animals. This is very serious negligence, frivolity! You cannot do these things,” he said.
Naimogullari’s comments were met with fury by the north’s dairy product manufacturers’ association (Suib) chairman Mahmut Erden on Wednesday night.
“A disease like bluetongue, which does not pass to humans and does not harm human health in any way but only causes economic losses through the death of animals, was advertised on television screens as if to rub it in the faces of the Greek Cypriots,” he said.
He added, “we will pay the price for the unfortunate situation [Naimogullari] has created when they stop us sending halloumi to the south. We condemn this irresponsible behaviour.”
Bluetongue disease is transmitted by insects and primarily affects sheep and, less commonly, cattle. Characteristic symptoms include fever, swelling around the face and lips, and in severe cases, blue discolouration of the tongue due to a lack of oxygen.
The disease is not directly a threat to human health, though the increased animal mortality rate it brings about tends to lead to substantial economic losses for farmers.
