Farmers overcome hardships, but find it difficult to prepare for the reporting meeting

Last Thursday, the members of the farmers’ union of Klaipėda district were invited to a reporting meeting, but when a quorum was not formed, they had to call a second time. “Farmers should actively participate, especially since this time there were guests – new managers with whom they could meet and discuss,” said Vidmantas Buivydas, the chairman of the department.
I wanted to go to the holidays
According to Andriaus Vainias, a member of the municipal council of the district, a member of the board of the farmers’ department, the Farmers’ Union is very necessary. “We are the ones who will fight for our problems, but we will not do anything alone,” he told Banga.
However, farmers were reluctant to attend the reporting meeting. “It is difficult for them to break away from their daily work. I urged them to come, but I found out that some are preparing for construction, others have cows calving. However, the reporting meeting is once a year, V. Buivydas, chairman of the Klaipėda district farmers’ union, said unhappily. “Farmers prefer to gather for the annual celebration – about 100 gather.”
The farmers who came to the meeting had the opportunity to meet important guests.
The mayor of the district, Bronius Markauskas, greeted the gathering and admitted that he is from the same farming community, and he looks at the crop fields every day on his way to work. “I am well aware of your joys and sorrows – I want to celebrate good relations with farmers,” said the mayor. – A strong Department of Agriculture, headed by Aurelija Latakienė. What can we do to help farmers? We increased the Village Support Fund to 30 thousand. euros. We pay a lot of attention to land reclamation and water management. The Minister of the Environment visited recently – we talked about the flood. This is relevant for people’s health, their lives and property.”
B. Markauskas reminded that the impressions of protest actions (farmers from Klaipėda district also participated) in Vilnius are still alive. He noticed that the whole of Lithuania was happy with the increased and strengthened community of farmers, their mentality and awareness. According to the mayor, the Farmers’ Union has existed for about 30 years, but they do not want to go to the meeting. Mayor B. Markauskas and Head of the Department of Agriculture A. Latakienė congratulated V. Buivydas, who recently celebrated his jubilee birthday: “So that there are no droughts in summer and floods in autumn.”
Expect a nice dialogue
Laima Kuizinienė, head of the support administration department of NMA Klaipėda, came to the meeting to get to know the farmers. “Challenges await both the beneficiaries and the agency’s employees”, emphasized the leader and urged farmers to seek help in case of uncertainties, so that the documents are carefully prepared.
“I’m glad that the door is not closed. Maybe now we will be able to orientate ourselves more easily during interviews, submit documents in a more orderly manner and avoid sanctions. After all, the farmer graduated from agricultural studies, but has no legal education, – said V. Buivydas. – Our wish is that NMA applications are not sent all over Lithuania, but evaluated locally, because here they know who is farming and who is just imitating this activity.” “We hope for a nice dialogue,” hoped L. Kuizinienė.
Mindaugas Kašinskas, the head of the maintenance department of the Klaipėda District of the VMVT, who came to the meeting, revealed the changes in this service. Due to the corruption scandal, it was reorganized in February. “Out of 10 counties, 6 counties remain, each with maintenance and service departments. These functions are separated – inspectors visiting farmers can no longer issue permits, – revealed M. Kašinskas, head of the Supervision Department. – Now Klaipėda County includes Tauragė County. In Gargždai, there was no longer a unit where the inspector worked, consultations were taking place. Now, as in many institutions, a telephone number of the central office is provided, by calling which the consultants provide consultation. In the future, there will be an opportunity to register for a meeting with an inspector.”
Farms are getting bigger
According to M. Kašinskas, there are currently more than 13 thousand in the Klaipėda district. of cattle and 478 their keepers. “It has decreased a lot compared to 2001. – then this district was in 3-4th place after Šilalė, Šilute and Telšiai districts. in 2017 the number of cattle varied little, but there were almost 900 keepers. Thus, farms are getting bigger, small ones are disappearing. The number of cattle has decreased significantly compared to neighboring districts: for example, there are more than 42 thousand in Šilalė district. of cattle and about 2 thousand custodians, in Šilute district – more than 39 thousand. of cattle and 1,500 keepers. That’s how contrasting the numbers are,” revealed the guest.
M. Kašinskas reminded about biological safety during the spread of African swine fever. According to him, 583 cases of this disease were detected in Lithuania last year, and 256 this year. “But it was detected only in boars – not in pig farms. According to experts, this virus can be avoided by carefully following biosafety requirements,” said M. Kašinskas. He reminded that the institution cooperates with the NMA, which provides lists of farms that need to be checked for complex and linked support. “Most of the violations we find are related to animal labeling and animal movement documents,” the guest noted. – The biggest inspections will take place in July – during the grazing period.” M. Kašinskas promised to abolish some magazines – to reduce the filling of unnecessary documents on farms, so that farmers have more time to take care of animals.
Missed the opportunity to hear
Ramūnas Stasiulis, head of Klaipėda RPK, who participated in the meeting, noticed that an incident with farmers occurred during the protest action due to a lack of communication. “We had no intention of imposing administrative penalties, but no one informed us that there was an escort of farmers to Vilnius – we would have helped and escorted them nicely.” I think that our cooperation will go smoothly in the future”, said the official.
According to R. Stasiulis, after the start of the working year, farmers take to the roads with powerful equipment. “In the spring, we receive reports about road surface pollution. It is necessary to drive the equipment after it has been cleaned and inspected so that it is in order and meets the requirements, because painful incidents happen, R. Stasiulis emphasized. – Last year, people were injured in several incidents. The investigation of one is still ongoing, an expert examination has been appointed.” The officer reminded that tractor drivers must have all documents – driving rights, insurance, technical inspection documents, otherwise they face administrative responsibility.
“Last year there were many tests for farmers and specialists regarding the declaration of agricultural land, strategic plan, droughts and rains were troublesome. This year we hope to manage everything faster”, said A. Latakienė.
After the guests’ speeches, there was supposed to be a report meeting of the members of the Farmers’ Union branch, but there was no quorum. Those gathered only listened to the annual report and discussed their sensitive problems. It will be approved at the second meeting on April 9. V. Buivydas could not understand why the farmers did not gather (there are 91 members, of which 46 have paid the fee), why there are so few active members. “After all, the Union of Farmers is the only public organization representing farmers,” said V. Buivydas. – Why didn’t they take the opportunity to get to know each other, to talk with the guests – the new managers?”
Virginia LAPIENĖ