A number of livestock farmers are not satisfied with the amount of money that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management has set aside through a public call for the import of heifers.
The president of the Danilovgrad Livestock Breeders' Association, Vlado Lakić, claims that during the outbreak of Q fever last year, the state and livestock breeders had an agreement that the damage caused to farms would be paid for through this call - but that this did not happen.
After a meeting on the subject with Agriculture Minister Vladimir Joković, he said that their damage was determined to be seven euros per day or 200 euros per month, and that they were promised that the state would help with the import of heifers for that amount.
"That did not happen, so we were deceived. These conditions of the public call are not met, and subsidies for milk production are three months late, because the Ministry of Finance has not transferred the money. We have had problems in livestock farming for a year with the emergence of an infectious disease, Q fever, and since June our production has been endangered, some farms have been shut down, many have suffered damage. The current public call, in which we had a promise that the Ministry would help import heifers for this year, did not happen. That support cannot cover the costs of paying VAT or additional analyses that are being done in exporting countries. We received a response from the minister that he would review the situation, consider it in the coming days, and since the public call lasts until May 5, that he would soon inform us whether he would fulfill our demands - which are completely realistic and justified because a year without production is a loss of 200 euros per head for a month. If we assume that we have not been operating for ten months, this is a damage of 2.000 euros," said Lakić.
They want profitability.
He explained that importing heifers now would mean production only next year, which would mean a year and a half without work. He claims that they want to change the public call because there is 1,45 million euros in money for that measure to support 900 heifers, and that not even 100 heifers will be imported because the Ministry is using the money for other measures.
"They've been doing this for years, they did it last year. And in the best year for imports, 650 heads came in. Now we have money for 900 heads, but the money should be used for other holes in the budget. Food imports on a daily basis exceed 2 million euros, we are completely threatened by importers. Our dairies are not doing business on the rise but on the decline, that's an alarm for the state. Our budget for subsidies is 0,75 percent of the budget for agriculture, and we fill it with ten percent. We give money and seek profitability and competitiveness with measures in the region. If a person in Serbia gets 468 euros for a cow, and we get 100 euros, that means it's four times more, and the difference in the selling price of milk is about two cents," Lakić said.
He pointed out that it is difficult to find heifers in Europe due to the emergence of other diseases, that they are in big trouble, and that Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are also closed due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. He claims that 99 percent of farmers do not know how to protect themselves from the disease, because there is no proper education for livestock farmers.
He emphasized that they are therefore requesting an additional 165 thousand euros, for 15 farmers in this public call. He claims that the promises should have been fulfilled back in January, and that this is the first year in which the Agrobudget has not been presented by municipalities, that the Ministry has not presented it at the Government session, and that this is because, as he says, they are afraid of the reaction of producers because everyone has problems.
"No farmer hid that the disease had appeared, the veterinary administration and competent institutions are obliged to control imports into Montenegro and react adequately when an infectious disease appears. What you are witnessing was not done adequately and quickly, and the damage at the time of the disease could have been less if it had been done on time. Even today we have Q fever in Nikšić, Plužine and in the north, so we are not doing anything about it. There is no location to bury dead animals, we had promises from the minister that a by-product processing plant would be built in Nikšić, then the mayor came out and stated that it would not be built in Nikšić," Lakić said.
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