Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 21. 2. 2011

Ministers of Agriculture debate future of Common Agricultural Policy in Brussels today

Top representatives of European agriculture in Brussels negotiate for example about the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 and about conditions of laying hen breeding, and preparedness of particular member states to an application of ban of breeding in so called unenriched cages. The CAP needs to react more lively to the actual situation, especially concerning the sustainable development, so in questions of dealing with climatic changes impacts, in problems of renewable energy resources, and preservation of bio-diversity.

Špekáčky and Lovecký salám was registered by EU in list of traditional specialties

Špekáček (knockwurst) provided with the EU logo will have contain minimally 56 percents of beef and pork meat. Lovecký salám (a kind of salami), Spišské párky (sausage) and Liptovký salám (salami) from the Czech Republic and Slovakia gained a protected mark of the European Union on Monday. The European Union announced that it had registered them in the list of Traditional Specialty Guaranteed. The EU differentiates three kinds of registrations: the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), the Protected Designation of Origin (PDI), and the Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG). The first two mentioned guarantee that the product is partially or completely produced in a certain geographical area.

Anti-bureaucratic commission of MA proved good in fight against rampant administrative

In 2010, the Anti-bureaucratic commission of the Ministry of Agriculture (MA) dealt with 65 stimuli sent by farmers. Three tens of them were already successfully solved or at least brought almost to their finalization last year. Farmers took in affection especially an anti-bureaucratic questionnaire which is placed on the internet pages of the Ministry of Agriculture since the beginning of last year´s November. The success of the department war against excessive bureaucracy is confirmed by activity of the Anti-bureaucratic commission of MA (ABK) which deals with farmers stimuli. By means of the anti-bureaucratic questionnaire farmers can write simply and quickly to the Commission where the rampant bureaucracy weight upon them.

Land in Czech Republic stops yielding

The agricultural land in the Czech Republic is less and less fertile. And it will be worse, experts warn. In the most endangered areas, approximately 7.5 tonnes of plough-land are washed out from each hectare every year. Almost 50 percents of agricultural land in the CR is endangered by water erosion. Just the water erosion causes that the soil loses the ability to bind water and nutrients. Water in soil is badly held mainly because an organic mass, humus, is missing there. Without humus the soil quality can not be improved either by fertilization with inorganic fertilizers. “Substances contained in inorganic fertilizers are not sufficiently bound in the soil and in rains they are washed out”.