Filenews 19 January 2022 - by Angelos Nikolaou
Yesterday's decision by the director of the Veterinary Services caused a storm of reactions in the livestock world, since it essentially left pig farmers and cow farmers planning meat exports in the coming days, exposed. In addition to exports, because the slaughter should end at 14:30 in order to allow veterinarians to do the necessary tests by 15:00, the Cypriot market will not be able to be served normally either.
According to complaints from breeders, the impact on pig and cow farming will be enormous. As they say, there are already huge surpluses and if the issue of private registered veterinarians is not resolved immediately then the surpluses will multiply. They stress that only with the weight that the pigs will put on due to the delay of slaughter can bring about up to a 10% increase in surpluses.
After representations of the breeders in the General Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, a temporary solution was given, which was applied at least three times in the past. According to reports, the inspection will be carried out by private veterinarians who offer their services free of charge for the state, but will be paid by the producers' groups of farmers who will export.
Breeders argue that the same scene is repeated every year. The funds of private veterinarians for carrying out the inspections in the slaughterhouses of Nicosia is coming to an end, leaving a gap until the Veterinary Services have announced a tender for assignment of tasks to others in the afternoon. Furthermore, it is noted that the procedure before the House did not take place either, since the fund for private veterinarians for 2022 remains crucified.
Just yesterday, the Veterinary Services proceeded with the announcement of a tender for the provision of services by eight private veterinarians for the implementation of the plan for the implementation of the official controls in the slaughterhouses of ungulates in Nicosia. It is noted that the tenders submitted will be opened on 8 February 2022. It is also noted that the provision of the requested services must begin immediately with the date of signing the relevant contract and will last until the exhaustion of the hours budgeted for each veterinarian and not later than 31/01/2023.
The slaughter programme for animals intended for export has reportedly been sent to the Veterinary Services since last Thursday.
Specifically, two consignments of cattle must be slaughtered immediately (today Wednesday and Saturday 22/01/2022), as the transport ships leave, the first on Friday 21/01/2022 and the second on Tuesday 25/01/2022. Also, three more consignments of pork (slaughter Wednesday and Thursday) are intended for export on Friday 21/01/2022.
According to reports, the five shipments will export about 115 tons of pork and beef totalling €175,000.
Pig farmers and cow farmers are worried
The president of the Pig Farmers' Association, Petros Kailas, said the Veterinary Services were affected by the coronavirus and therefore another way must be found so that contract veterinarians can take on immediate duties in order not to lose exports. He added that at this time, every year, there is a problem from the moment the budget of contract agents is completed and there is a big gap until a new fund is approved by the House. He explained that due to the fact that some veterinarians have become ill, the slaughterhouse is working with a pig slaughter line, while there are no staff for the services. As a result, he said, animals will remain intact and exports are at risk, while a problem will also arise with the local market if no solution is found.
Nikos Papakyriakou, general director of the Pancyprian Organization of Cow Farmers (RFO), said that the problem arose since the fund for the purchase of services from private veterinarians has been fully absorbed and therefore in order for the issue to be permanently eliminated, new contracts will have to be signed. According to Mr. Papakyriakou, there have been representations to the Veterinary Services to find a solution otherwise the farmers will bear significant damage. furthermore, he said that if exports are lost, Cypriot producers will not only remain exposed to their customers, but there is also a risk of losing them, since they will turn to other markets to meet their needs.
Five reasons for the request
The Veterinary Services in a letter to a slaughterhouse date. 17/1/2022 inform that their request cannot be met on the following grounds:
>> First, the coronavirus pandemic has inevitably affected the Service as well, thus addressing a serious issue of staff shortages.
>> Secondly, the available hours of private registered veterinarians have been exhausted, which is also due to variations in the slaughter programme on the part of the slaughterhouse, for which they have been used for many hours in extensions to cover delays in the rate of slaughter.
>> Thirdly, the Agency is making a remarkably great effort to ensure that the existing appropriations in the 2022 budget approved to cover the purchase of services by private registered veterinarians to carry out official checks in slaughterhouses are released as soon as possible to enable the signing of new contracts for this purpose.
>> Fourthly, there is unfortunately no possibility of satisfying the request, and therefore the slaughterhouse is called upon to inform the farmers customers not to bring and collect animals in the slaughterhouse beyond those that can be slaughtered according to the schedule that is communicated to you.
>> Fifth, for the period 18/1/2022 - 21/1/2022 there will be no possibility of covering slaughters beyond the usual hours of 7:30-15:00, nor for 22/1/2022.
