Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 8.12. 2010

Government approved land fund budget for next year

The government at its evening meeting passed a budget of the Land Fund for next year. The proposal supposes total incomes 1.66 billion crowns and expenditures 1.63 billion CZK. Petr Nečas told it at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting. LF governs among other also state agricultural real properties and releases compensatory parcels to restituents. Currently, the fund passes transformation and organization changes. At the present form it should work by end of 2012. According to an original intention, after that it should have changed in an individual organizational component of the state falling most likely within the Ministry of Agriculture. However, an agreement, closed by parties of the present government coalition after this year´s parliamentary elections, and subsequent government statement of policy does not count on the LF transformation into an organizational component of the state.

Agricultural committee wants to increase national grants mainly to breeders

The parliamentary agricultural committee recommended the Chamber of Deputies a way to divide 150 million crowns by which it wants to increase national endowment programmes for the next year. The biggest amount of this sum, 70 million crowns, should be allotted to breeders of farm animals for improvement of genetic equipment of their breedings. The increase concerns mainly pig breeders. A vcice-chairman of the committee, Jiří Papež (ODS) said it to ČTK today. Farmers, food producers and bee-keepers should get after the additional increase 677 million crowns in total. Though, the national subsidies will significantly decrease from this year´s 1.1 billion crowns. The government agreed with a more significant decrease of national endowments for the next year early in November, they should have decreased to 527 million crowns. However, early in last month, the Agricultural Committee suggested without a closer specification their increase by 150 million crowns.

Government on the proposal from minister Fuksa changed SZIF chief

The government on the proposal from the Minister of Agricultural Ivan Fuksa recalled a director of the State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SZIF) Tomáš Révész. By an outcome of a regular selection procedure, the Fund will have been managed by an economic deputy minister of agriculture Oldřich Černoch. A reason for the recall of the director Révész was enforcement of a non-transparent and disadvantageous change of SZIF information system. “I have repeatedly called upon SZIF director not to continue in a project which would cause economic damages and endanger payment of grants to farmers. He refused, therefore I suggest the government his recall”, the Minister Ivan Fuksa commented the situation. The agreement which SZIF director wanted to sign would mean at least a year parallel operation of two information systems which would cost the state about hundreds of millions crowns”.

French milk production grows fast

Last year´s fall in milk production was successfully overcome this year; a five-year average was exceeded by 2,5 %. Milk production in France significantly refreshes itself after a crisis year 2009. Milk deliveries in September in comparison with the same period the last year, when the production was at a very low level, increased by 12 percents. A statistic service of the Ministry of Agriculture (Agreste) presented that a five-year average was exceeded by 2.5 percents. The expansion tendency held also in October. Compared to the same period of the foregoing year, the milk production in this month increased by 8 percents.