Each morning, Christos Papapetrou looks to the sky. “We all do,” says the head of Cyprus’s farmers’ union. “We’re hoping for clouds, for rain.” But as their island enters a third consecutive year of drought, there is little sign of either.
This summer, for the first time in recent memory, Cyprus will be forced to import tomatoes, watermelons and other produce it has long grown, because farmers cannot irrigate. The government has halved agricultural water allocations, cutting off seasonal crops entirely.
“We’ve accepted it,” Papapetrou says. “But let’s not pretend this is just a farmers’ problem. It affects the whole country. Prices will soar.”