Banana farmers in the Paphos district are “on the brink of disaster” over ongoing water shortages which are impacting the island.

Their issues were raised at a meeting called on Wednesday evening, which was attended by various MPs and Akamas mayor Marinos Lambrou, with Paphos banana farmers’ association chairman Moses Peyiotis saying the situation “has reached the point of impossibility”.

He said that the current amount of water being allocated for irrigation in the Paphos district “cannot serve us” and is insufficient to maintain banana plantations.

Other banana farmers also spoke at the meeting, with Koullis Theodosiou from Peyia saying farmers’ incomes are “shrinking” and that as such, they are “facing problems with survival”.

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Meanwhile, the prospect of “dynamic measures”, including protests, was not ruled out.

Banana farmers have long been warning that the current levels of water they receive is insufficient, with a meeting in January having raised similar concerns.

Then, Peyiotis called on the government to “help us in this effort we are making to cope with the difficult situation we are experiencing”.

“We have been banana farmers for quite some time, and we demand to continue with the quantities of water we have had to this point, so that our crops can survive and bear fruit,” he said.

Paphos district governor Charalambos Pittokopitis also spoke at January’s meeting, calling on the central government to “support banana farmers and treat them like all other farmers in Paphos and across Cyprus”.

“I understand the critical issues we have seen with the lack of water, but this sector, and especially bananas, must be given special attention by the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, Droushia deputy mayor Sotiris Koupparis said banana farmers “appear to be facing a major problem” and that the full extent of the damage caused by the lack of water has not yet been assessed.

Earlier this month, officials from the Paphos district had been left upset and perplexed by the government’s decision to only use the mobile desalination units which are set to be delivered to Cyprus from the United Arab Emirates in the Limassol district.

“It is a very concerning and puzzling turn of events and we are trying to fathom what went on. We are not at all satisfied,” Marinos Lambrou told the Cyprus Mail at the time.

This decision was eventually somewhat reversed, with one mobile desalination unit having been sent to the Paphos district village of Kouklia.

Last week, Polis Chrysochous Mayor Yiotis Papachristofihad called for  “long-term measures” to address problems facing the issues facing the supply of water to both his area and Cyprus at large.

On this issue, he called for “proper irrigation systems” to be installed “so that water is not wasted” and demanded that more dams be constructed around Polis Chrysochous.

In addition, he said, some existing dams should be made larger, because “during periods of heavy rainfall, large quantities of water are lost to the sea”.

Charalambos Pittokopitis had at the end of last year called for two new dams to be built in the district to protect it against future droughts, with Paphos’ lack of water being exacerbated by the draining of the Mavrokolympos reservoir to fix a corroded vent in January.

Additionally, a desalination plant between the villages of Mandria and Kouklia was completely destroyed in a fire last December, further weakening the district’s water supply.