Summer's offer: 300 lei for a dairy cow - July 25 th, 2007
The drought and the extreme heat made the prices for cattle go at an all times low less than 100 euros for a cow, instead of the usual 500 - 700 euros. "Smart investors" round up the herds and sell the cows seven times more expensive to slaughter houses.
In the damaged areas farmers no longer have feed for their cattle and they prefer to sell them for a quarter of the normal price. "The meadows are dry because of the drought. The grain production is very small this year and people don't have enough fodder to feed the animals. That is why farmers are forced to sell their cows. Some even sell their cows in the lactation period for 500 lei. Normally, one cow is sold with 2000 up to 5000 lei" says Gheorghe Liciu, President of General Association of Cattle Breeders in Romania. This situation is to be found in the damaged areas of Muntenia, Moldavia and parts of Transylvania region. "In the south of Oltenia and counties such as Vaslui, where it hasn't been raining for six months, cows are sold with 300 lei. Usually the animals are bought by "smart investors" who pay little money to the farmers. People prefer to take the money as such because the slaughter houses are far away and transportation would cost them more than what they get per cow. Thus, a dramatic situation for the farmers is transformed into an opportunity by the speculators who seize the opportunity. Big farmers don't buy animals now because they usually buy dairy cows having a high production", says Valeriu Steriu, president of Romanian Dairy Processors Organization.
To save the situation, the representatives of the cattle raisers asked the Ministry of Agriculture for support, at least for the 400,000 animals in the southern part of the country. "We want the people to be supported in buying fodders. A support of 4 kg fodders/cow is needed, for a period of 180 days, having the price of 0.5 lei/kg. Otherwise, out of the existent 1.5 million cows, one third will disappear" says Liciu. The representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture are not willing to offer more money since the cattle raisers already receive several millions lei subsidy per year.
The decrease in number of dairy cows is not necessary a negative thing if we take into consideration the fact that Romania produces annually 5.2 bil. liters of milk and the negotiated milk quota is of 3.1 bil. liters. As 94% of the dairy cows' owners have one or two cows and practice subsistence agriculture, they cannot assure the milk quota. All they can do is to sell the quota, but now they also face the situation of selling their cows. "A mistake was made in 2006, when quota was allocated to all the cow owners, including to those having only one animal and who cannot deliver a certain quantity of milk constantly, says Steriu.
Source: Cotidianul, July 25 th, 2007 |
