photo: Bob Asher, PrahaIN.cz/Jaroslav Šebek, chairman of the Association of Private Agriculture of the Czech Republic
REPORT: Representatives of the Trade and Tourism Association of the Czech Republic and the Association of Private Agriculture of the Czech Republic signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at improving the situation in Czech agriculture. The government is said to have disappointed private farmers and is not taking the steps it promised. “Instead, the Minister of Agriculture announces that he will bring nine thousand people from Asia into agriculture. But the Mongols will not save Czech agriculture,” Association chairman Jaroslav Šebek told PrahaIN.cz.
Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný (KDU-ČSL) stated, that the activity of his department and the ministries of labor and social affairs and the interior is ongoing so that foreign workers can obtain work permits more quickly and could thus supplement the missing workers in agriculture. This activity also concerns Mongolia, among others.
“I was amazed to read an interview with the Minister of Agriculture a few days ago in which he stated that eight or nine thousand people from Mongolia could replace the missing workers in agriculture. That’s absurd. These people will come from a completely different background. They have a completely different setting, they don’t know the language, they have different habits and different priorities.
They will work here as day laborers somewhere in the fields and when their contract expires, they will go back home. Instead of importing workers from abroad, the state should massively support Czech farmers and the creation of other family farms on which the next generation will settle and farm. The Mongols will not save Czech agriculture,” Jaroslav Šebek told the PrahaIN.cz server.
Jaroslav Šebek, head of ASZ ČR and president of SOCR ČR Tomáš Prouza at the signing of the Memorandum. Photo: PrahaIN.cz
The Trade and Tourism Association of the Czech Republic and the Association of Private Agriculture of the Czech Republic will work together to set up a more effective subsidy system and more effective support for small and medium-sized farmers so that, according to their own words, they can better compete with agricultural holdings.
They criticize the government’s approach
“We have to solve the question of what will happen to our agriculture in the future. For thirty-five years, we consoled ourselves with the fact that Czech agriculture is one of the few good things left here from the period of socialism. We have plowed borders, big businesses, a lot of production, people don’t work hard in agriculture and they have great social benefits. It turned out to be exactly the opposite,” emphasized Šebek.
“The result of collectivization is that there are no farmers in the countryside. In Austria, 180,000 private farmers work on the same area. In the Czech Republic it is only ten thousand. The same is true in Europe, where there are also metal farmers and no one minds that they still have another business on the side. But what is important is that they take care of the land and pass it on in their families for generations. That’s incredible power. It is gold that every state should value. Unfortunately, this is not happening here yet,” said the head of the farmers.
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According to his claim, the European Union operates on a family business model.
“However, the Czech Republic only received subsidies from this. They try to use it up and then produce reports on how much money has been used up. This is a fundamental mistake. Above all, it is about what these funds will be used for and what good it will bring to agriculture. Will they only fill the pockets of the owners of large companies or will they benefit the entire countryside,” the chairman of the Association pointed out.
At Tuesday’s briefing, in which the editors participated, it was also heard that private farmers are disappointed and dissatisfied with what and how the government cabinet is dealing with this issue.
2023-10-08 12:35:37
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