Cyprus Recipe  - Fresh Produce

Cyprus with its ever widening range of fruit and vegetables has quite justifiably gained a reputation on international markets as the Garden of the Mediterranean. Crops include a full range of citrus - oranges, grapefruit, lemons and constantly increasing volumes of easy peelers available during the winter months. White seedless and black grape are exported in the summer when European supplies are limited, while in winter and early spring substantial volumes of top quality new potatoes, carrots and beetroot are shipped.

Recent years have seen a major expansion in out of season salads and vegetables with a particularly successful trade in specialist items such as okra, doodhi and mooli. Coriander, colocassi, and black eye beans, appreciated by Cypriots abroad, are also important.

Cyprus boasts a wide range of soils as well as a number of unique micro-climates which enable it to produce not only fruits such as strawberries, cherries, apricots and kiwifruit but also subtropical items like avocados and bananas. New products are under trial. Production of all types of fruit and vegetables has been given a boost by the recent completion of a massive irrigation scheme which is opening up an additonal 100,000 acres of land in the flat and very fertile coastal plains along the southern coastline, in particular round the Paphos region. Water from the melting snows on the Troodos mountains is used to feed an intricate system of reservoirs and irrigation channels, and this project has already resulted in increased production of vegetables, and citrus.

In Cyprus, producers tend to specialise, and those growing new potatoes, carrots and beetroot are organised with statutory marketing boards.
Grape, citrus and other vegetables are marketed either by the island's co-operative Organisation or private packer/exporters. There are about a dozen private exporters, some of whom are also substantial producers in their own right. The majority have marketing offices abroad.

Cyprus growers are supported in their efforts by government technology in the shape of several specialised research centres which are constantly experimenting with new varieties of produce and growing techniques. A government inspection service works closely with both producers and exporters to ensure that strict international standards are maintained for export.

Sea transport is readily available from the ports of Larnaca and Limassol, situated within easy reach of the major production centres, while airfreight, used for highly perishable crops, is available from Larnaca and the recently opened airport at Paphos.

On international markets Cyprus is supported by its own commercial offices in the UK, West Germany, Belgium, the USA, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Japan, Kuwait and Dubai. Their aim is to help exporters stimulate sales and promote fruit and vegetables to both trade and public.

Given the importance of EEC markets to Cyprus, the 1987 Customs Union agreement will, most certainly, have a positive effect on the island's exports of fresh fruit and vegetables. This paves the way for the first of two phases stretching over 15 years and means that Cyprus will ultimately be in a more favourable position vis A vis the EEC than any other non-member state.