The prohibition of tying cattle, ban on the use of genetically modified products, prevention of destruction of bees in the honeycomb, are only some of the provisions of the Law on agricultural organic production of FBiH, which is waiting for final approval after several years of stalling.
With its adoption, FBiH will finally get legislation that regulates agricultural organic production. On the other hand, Republika Srpska adopted a law on organic production back in 2004, and the new one was adopted in 2013. Farmers from the FBiH emphasized that interest of customers for organic production is increasing, as well as interest of farmers. They stated that organic farming is demanding and requires a lot of time and money, but it is important for human health and environment.
They reminded that a lot of ground in BiH has conditions for this type of production, and that BiH needs to have 3 % of its area under the organic production, as required by the EU. According to the explanation of the law, the aim of its adoption is the fulfillment of obligations from the Stabilization and Association Agreement, as well as legal regulation of this area in order to create conditions for development of organic production. It is recognized that the interest and development of agricultural organic production in the FBiH dates back to 2000, while only in 2008 were undertaken activities for law-making, which has been in the form of a draft for years, and because of these unregulated areas there is no system of control of organic production and products that are offered on the market.
Pamela Hrnjic from Bihac, whose father Rifat registered home industry and he is certified for organic production, emphasized that their family of four have enough to live. “We are working with herbs for a long time. Organic production is increasingly required. It requires considerable expenditures per year, but we have positive reviews of our customers, who are mainly from abroad. It is not difficult to meet the requirements for obtaining a certificate,” she said, noting that they rarely receive incentives from the state.
According to the Law, products obtained by hunting wild animals and fishing in open water are not considered as products of organic production. The duration of transport of livestock must be kept to a minimum, the animals must have permanent access to open space, any kind of suffering must be kept to a minimum, including the time of slaughter, and the number of animals must be limited.
Only natural methods of reproduction are generally permitted, animal can be fed only with organic food, and cleaning of facilities is permitted only with products that are approved for use in organic production. Mammals that are breastfeeding can only be fed by natural, if possible, breast milk of the mother, while the beehive in beekeeping must be made of natural materials.
(Source: akta.ba)
