The founding assembly of the Croatian Sectoral Association for Pork (HRSP) was held on Monday in Osijek. Producers, processors, slaughterhouse operators and traders are for the first time receiving a common platform for regulating the pig meat market, with the Minister for Agriculture, David Vlaičić, describing the establishment as a historic moment for Croatian pig farming.
Vlačić stated that pig farmers, like producers in other sectors, had long been left to their own devices and were uncompetitive when acting individually. The ministry, he said, had spent months bringing together representatives from the entire chain to ensure the association would take root.
The aim, according to the minister, is for producers to take a more active role in planning production and distribution, and for the market to be regulated from production to the shop shelf, including through contractual arrangements that ensure stable purchasing.
Croatia currently meets 50 to 55 per cent of its own needs in pig meat production, with the long-term goal being to increase this self-sufficiency. Vlačić announced that similar associations would be established in the beef sector, as well as for fruit and vegetables, and considered them essential in arable farming as well.
He also addressed African swine fever: 53 cases of infection in domestic animals had been recorded as of 10 July, all in the Virovitica-Podravina and Osijek-Baranja counties, with around 1,520 pigs culled. In the hunting grounds of those two counties, around 200 wild boar tested positive, leading the minister to urge breeders to strictly adhere to biosecurity measures.
The coordinator of the steering committee, Krešimir Kuter, reported that the assembly had gathered around 80 percent of primary pig meat producers, the same proportion of processors, and 30 percent of representatives from retail chains. The model, in which stakeholders negotiate the rules themselves, is said to work in France, Spain and Italy. Once the Ministry of Agriculture recognises the association, the joint rules will apply to the entire market, regardless of membership.
