Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 13.12.2011

Meat cattle breeders and endowment state system

According to the Union of Marginal Areas (SMO) the Ministry of Agriculture (MZe) prefers dairy cow breeders and operators of bio-gas stations within payment of subsidies to meat cattle breeders. Therefore the Union requires balancing the difference in subsidies. SMO associates farmers from mountain, piedmont and frontier regions where just the pasturage breeding of meat cattle breeds dominates. Published Top-Up tariffs (national supplemental payments) a,d further a reduced payment for meat cows in amount 1393.80 CZK per year 2011confirmed again, unfortunately, that the main animal commodity of less favourable areas - meat cattle - remains despite all declarations on the edge of interest of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Union stated.

SZIF was fined by 900 thousands by Antimonopoly Office

The State Agricultural Intervetion Fund (SZIF) was fined by the Antimonopoly Office by 900 000 crowns. The reason is mistakes in a tender for operation of an information system. The Office minds that the Fund commissioned the company SAP ČR, spol. s.r.o. annually without an open selective proceeding. ÚOHS (Antimonopoly Office) criticizes four agreements from 2006 to 2009; ČTK found out it from the Office´s web sites. SZIP defend in the administrative proceeding with that a use of negotiation proceeding without publishing is well-founded by exclusive copyright of the selected firm. According to the Fund, anyone else could not meet the subject of commission which reputedly results from an agreement between SAP ČR and the Ministry of Agriculture from 2003. ÚOHS stated in the decision on the contrary that statutory requirements for use of negotiation proceeding without publishing were not met. It specified mainly technical reasons.

TZ: Operational Programme Fishery has already supported 299 projects

In the framework of priority axis 2 OP Fishery, the State Agricultural Intervention Fund has paid off a sum exceeding 219.6 mil. CZK from means of the Ministry of Agriculture to 299 projects of the total sum 1 383.4 mil. CZK determined to 1044 registered projects during implementation of the OP Fishery from the 1st January 2007 to the 31st October 2011. By means of particular measures the priority axis 2 OP Fishery focused on reengineering and rationalization of production processes by means of modernizing and equipment of already existing production facilities, and further on a support of building of new ones. Subsidies are provided also for removal of mud from ponds, and for an investment in recycling systems.

Czech Republic could export snails in USA, firm from Brno is interested in

Unconventional goods - snails - can become soon a new Czech export item. A family firm Snailex Plus from Brno would like to export them from the Czech Republic to the USA. However, if it obtains appropriate permissions from American authorities; the negotiation goes rather in snail pace for the present. “Several distributors interested in made heard of themselves. Also individual customers from the USA had contacted us already before but because we did not have necessary permissions we could not send them snails”, an owner of the firm, Miroslav Souček, explained the making the application. According to him the only meat product which has the export permission for the USA is Pražská šunka (Prague ham).