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Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to extend to you all a very warm welcome on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources and to say how grateful we are to FAO and the UNDP who have accepted our invitation to convene this Regional Seminar on the Reclamation and Management of Sandy Soils, here in Nicosia.

It is an opportune time to renew contacts and discuss problems of mutual interest with delegates from member countries of the Region.

It is gratifying to note that the agenda of the Seminar covers a wide range of very interesting items relating to the physical and chemical properties of sandy soils and especially those directly related to aspects of water and fertility management.

Although the extent of sandy soils in Cyprus is limited, and by no means comparable in importance to that in most member countries of the Region, yet where they are cropped, they may present special problems in the management of irrigation and fertilization.

Under unsaturated moisture conditions, the unimpeded movement of water and nutrient ions imposes the necessity for effective and proper methods of irrigation in order to regulate moisture and ion movement, thus ensuring an efficient use of water and fertilizers, yet preventing through ease of leaching the build up of salinity from irrigation waters of marginal quality.

Generally under our soil conditions sandy soil horizons overlay finer texture layers or intermingle in sequence of layers of varying textural classes. It is in this latter connection that their physical properties, such as hydraulic conductivity modify the properties of the whole profile.

Naturally, a thorough knowledge of the behaviour of sandy soils and their internal drainage characteristics are of fundamental importance both in the process of reclamation and also in the prevention of salinity and secondary salinization.

We are aware of the tremendous effort made, and the large investment in funds and scientific effort by a number of member countries in reclaiming large areas of sandy soil and in “making the desert bloom”. We wish them every success in their noble endeavours to develop their land and water resources and increase agricultural production. We are only too anxious to hear our distinguished colleagues report on their recent research developments in the field of land reclamation and management.

It has become commonplace to say, and repeat saying, that scarcity of water resources is the most severe constraint to the impetus of agricultural development. Yet this fact pervades omnipotently in our minds The increasingly serious situation relating to the world-wide decline of water resources has been amply focused by the important document, “Water Problems affecting Agriculture Development” presented to the recent Seventeenth Session of the FAO Conference. Indeed, this could provide the guidelines for a collective approach for efficient water use, water conservation and salinity control in sandy soils and for that matter, to other soil types.

No matter how much we can do by ourselves on the national level, whether it be research or development, it is never enough. In a spirit of true cooperation, we in this region of the world., proud of nurturing all past and present civilizations and cultures, must join in an action-oriented effort to attack and solve the problems that beset land and water development.

If on the national level we can, and must, pursue agricultural development as a multi-dimensional concept, encompassing the economic, social, institutional and physical elements of development, in a wider sense, it would be relatively easy to effect the necessary adjustments for a truly effective cooperation on the regional basis. This is fully consonant with our official position taken and the full support of the concept of international agricultural adjustment at the recent Seventeenth FAO Conference.

In concluding, I wish you every success in your deliberations and a very pleasant stay in Cyprus.