Summary of newsmakers from the previous day 11. 4. 2005

Number of environmentally friendly farms increases

The number of ecological farms in the country almost doubled within the last four years. The Ministry of Agriculture keeps a record of 820 of them. On the other hand, there are now less environmentally friendly farmers in the traditionally agricultural region of Vysočina. At present, 29 farmes manage only one percent of the agricultural land in the region. According to data from the Czech Statistical Office branch in Jihlava, their share in the Czech Republic reached over 6 per cent last year. Organic food products in Vysočina region are made above all by private farmers and in case of the town of Humpolec, it is the school estate that has an ecological farm. Most of companies in the region are focused on cattle. In 2003 there were 21 of them, 18 last year. A few breeders own sheep, pigs, poultry, goats or horses.

Czech Republic faces a fine for having gathered goods supplies before joining the EU

The governments of ten new EU member states, including the Czech Republic, are facing fines at the total of 465 million euros for having gathered supplies of key commodities before joining the EU last May. It results from the preliminary document of the European Commission´s agricultural department, reported the Reuters Agency. Approximately 100 million euros (roughly 3 milliard CZK) of this amount would belong to Czechia. „We are not aware of any excess supplies before the accession to the European Union,“ stated Martin Severa, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture. The department will wait for an official statement of the European Union before commenting on the issue.

Customs officers are to monitor poppy and hemp growers

Growers of poppy and other crops, which could be potentionally misused for the production of narcotics, have a new duty. They will be monitored by customs officers and they have to announce the acreage of currently seeded land as well as a prediction for the following year. They can carry out the reporting duty by the end of May at the appropriate customs office. All owners of at least one acre of the land used for poppy or hemp growing have to come and report. „The information must contain the name of the used variety, plot number, name and number of the cadastral territory and the amount of harvested poppy heads, hemp, poppy seeds and hemp seeds,“ said Jaroslav Moravec, the spokesperson of the South-Moravian customs officers.

Veterinary Administration confirmed 18th case of BSE in Czechia

Based on a follow-up examination, the State Veterinary Administration (SVA) has confirmed today 18th case of the mad cow disease (BSE) in the Czech Republic. The infected five-year-old cow came from the breed of an agricultural co-operative in Trhový Štěpánov in Benešov district. This year it is already a third infected animal in the country. 217 cows at the same age as the infected cow will be examined and preventively put down, stated Josef Duben, the SVA spokesperson. „From 800 cows, which we have on the farm, roughly 27 per cent will have to be slaughtered,“ said Pavel Navrátil, the co-operative chairman. He did not wish to comment on the situation in detail. The animals are to be put down within 3 months.