Description Field crops are grown mainly rain fed all over the island. In 2000, the area under field crops was 82900 ha representing 61% of the total cropped area. Barley was the most important field crop grown on 45000 ha. Wheat production is progressively diminishing in favour of barley mainly due to better adaptation of the later to the dry conditions and the Government's pricing policy that favours barley. However, this trend is expected to inverse following the introduction of area payments scheme, which will benefit wheat cultivation. Wheat and barley producer prices are fixed by the Government and are close to each other although price differences in the international market ate quite large. Fodder crops were sown on 30245 ha, of which 30170 were forage production and 75 for again. In the five-year period 1996-2000 the total value of field crop production averaged 26.6 million representing 15,9% of the total value of crop production or 7,6% of the total agricultural output. The value of cereals, including straw, accounted for 55% of the field crops output. The main developments in the last five-year period were the serious drought that stroke Cyprus which resulted in decreased volume and value of field crops production, as well as the increased area (almost doubled) cultivated with fodder crops. In the same period, imports of wheat and barley reached 427000 t/year valued at about £30 million, representing an increase of 16% and 58%, respectively over the previous period. The main countries of origin were the USA , Canada and the UK . Small quantities of food legumes and groundnuts were also imported, whereas, broad bean and chickpea production was considerably limited. (Source: Norm input-output data for the main crop and livestock enterprises of Cyprus . Agricultural Research Institute. Nicosia - Cyprus )
Area, production and value of Wheat until 2000.
(Source: Norm input-output data for the main crop and livestock enterprises of Cyprus . Agricultural Research Institute. Nicosia - Cyprus )
Committee Board Arrangement of operation of sector in the European Union Negotiation with the European Union
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