Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 2. 3. 2009

Breeders will organize protest against low milk prices next week

Breeders will organize protest against low buy-out milk prices next week. A senator Jan Hajda (ČSSD) acquainted journalists with the term in Brno today. He announced neither the exact day nor the place of manifestation. According to him the Agrarian Chamber will publish the details on Moday the 9th of March. Buy-out prices of milk are according to farmers less by third against last year and breeders forfeited in incomes seven billion crowns. According to Hajda, who is at the same time a chairman of agricultural cooperative in Sedlec in Břeclav region, the situation in agriculture is so bad that there is a threat of dairycows slaughtering in the CR. However, the step would bring the sector further problems. According to him, cereal producers would have big surpluses.

Farmers will be profitable first of all thanks to subsidies

Subsidies in agriculture increased roughly by 9,5 billion crowns last year against the foregoing year. A divisional manager of agricultural statistics of the Czech Statistic Office (ČSÚ) Jiří Hrbek told it in an interview for Mediafax on Friday. “These supports helped significantly to farmers and it can be said that the total resort economic result is created mainly with subsidies”, Hrbek states. According to his data, a total volume of agricultural production decreased to 97,7 percent last year against 2007, mainly thanks to plant production. A plant production index reached 91,9 percent last year compared to the foregoing one.

Almost 6 000 samples of food did not meet norms last year

The State Agricultural and Food Inspection (SZPI) realized 73 837 target aimed checks in 2008, of it 10 235 in producers and 63 522 in shops. A spokeswoman of SZPI Martina Šmídtová informed on it on Friday. “In comparison with the year 2007 there was a considerable increase in number of checks. Besides this the Inspection in compliance with a requirement of European legislative introduced also a new type of official check last year, an audit, in frame of which inspectors carry out a complex check of a system of food safety security in a given operator. At the same time SZIP stated successfully a certificate ISO 9001:2000”, the spokeswoman told.

New law on wastes: higher share of recycling, bigger comfort for people

“The present law on wastes has many insufficiencies and is not able effectively prevent wasting of raw materials. Almost three quarters of waste from Czech households end on dumps. A new law will easier sorting to people, will give preferential treatment to waste use to its waste disposal, simplifies an administrative, prevent actively an illegal treatment with waste. The ecological behaviour has to pay off to people – who sorts, will safe”, the Minister of Environment Martin Bursík summarizes main theses of the new law on wastes. The Czech Republic recycles only 21 % of communal waste while Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium are in the long term above 50 %.