Cultivation in Alambra

On the east, towards Dali and Lymbia, lies the largest clay soil basin, which is very fertile and cultivated with cereals. Previously, these lands were used to grow tomatoes, black eyed beans, watermelons, melons, cotton wool: as these lands used to collect rainwater and retain moisture during the summer months, and other lands were planted with vines, black and white, which in the last two or three decades have been uprooted one after the other. And so now the village, which had three thousand acres of vineyards, has not a single vineyard to show due to lack of labour and successive droughts. In all this area there were previously water pits. Potatoes and vegetables were grown on a small scale for each family's needs and many, who produced more, would sell them to merchants. Further to the droughts, which began in 1940 and the partial droughts that continue, the water was lost, the pits were destroyed and the wells were sold. These fields are now cultivated with barley and very limited amounts of wheat. Barley is more resistant to drought and disease, matures sooner and can be harvested before the summer rains, which are usually accompanied by hail and are destructive to agriculture (Elias Georgiou, 1989, 27) The main products are cereals, olives and oil, almonds and a few black eyed beans. Previously, the black eyed beans of Alhambra, which were one of our main produce, were cooked easily and very sought after. The olives in the old times, called "Franko-olives", are more than 800 years old, dating back to the time of the Franks. The new plantations date back to the 1940s, when, during a campaign, around 5,000 wild olive trees from the mountains of the Lefkara, Stavrovouni and Parekklisia were planted. Eight thousands carob trees, planted in the 1950s, did not yield enough benefits, perhaps the soil or the climate were unsuitable for carob trees. The tree that is abundant in our area is the almond tree. Thousands of them were planted in 1935 and onwards, when our village was excluded from tree plantations. There were old plantations but they were lost in the drought. Honey is another product of the village, thanks to the thyme that dominates the low hills and produces abundant and good honey. Papoutsosyka (prickly pears) is produced in large quantities in the village. (Elias Georgiou, 1989, 31)