Farmers in the Republika Srpska (RS) are in a difficult situation, as excessive meat imports prevent them from selling their livestock. They warn that the import of animals and meat threatens to completely endanger domestic primary production. Official statistics show that in 11 months of last year, as many as 70 million kilograms of meat arrived from Europe.
The president of the Association of Fattened Cattle of the RS, Goran Mitrovic, said in an interview that these are frightening figures.
“At the moment, there is a major problem with imports because agriculture in the European Union (EU) is highly subsidized. Europe is thus buying social peace. We have come to a situation where this is an uncompetitive price for our market. Our Ministry of Agriculture has nevertheless “pumped in” a large amount of funds; otherwise we would be in big trouble,” Mitrovic said.
Meat is expensive in the EU as well. South America has become our main market.
“Long-term measures for recovery are needed. Without incentives, it is difficult to survive. The production of fattened cattle requires enormous resources. Inputs are expensive; feed has to be produced, a barn built, and several hectares of land secured. That is too expensive. Then we come to another problem. For survival, it is necessary to increase quantities, and that means new capital,” Mitrovic explained.
If we say that production is unprofitable despite the high price of beef, we will sound unrealistic, but that is how it is.
“In order to have enough beef, we must work on it for many years, from protective measures to high subsidies. Imports have endangered the market. There is an excessive import of cheap meat, which jeopardizes domestic producers,” Mitrovic stated.
Because of all of the above, the number of producers in the RS will decrease, and it is necessary for us to have around 40 percent of the food we produce ourselves, while in terms of beef, “we will fall to the level of a statistical error,” Mitrovic said.
“We must have adequate subsidies and long-term plans for survival because our meat is of far better quality than imported meat,” Mitrovic emphasized.
