Agricultural group SANAGRO, which brings together 10 farms in the west and centre of Slovakia, fully supports the critical attitude of farmers and food producers to the actions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic.
The Council of Agricultural Enterprises and Food Self-Governments of the Slovak Republic (hereafter referred to as the Council of Agricultural Enterprises and Food Self-Governments of the Slovak Republic) is concerned about the progress of the Ministry in the preparation of a key document - the Programme Declaration of the Government of the Slovak Republic for the years 2020 - 2024 in the field of agro-food industry. "We, as primary producers, naturally do not like the fact that the representatives of the Ministry did not invite all the most important organisations from the sector, which bring together representatives of farmers and food producers, to the negotiations on the drafting of the programme statement. From our point of view, this is not a logical or even correct step, especially at a time when not only the agri-sector but the entire economy of Slovakia will be negatively affected by the spread of the coronavirus pandemic," said SANAGRO CEO Tomáš Kohút.
The Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber, the Slovak Food Chamber, the Slovak Agrarian Chamber, the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and Commercial Companies and the Association of Landowners and Agribusiness Owners of Slovakia (all associated in the RPPS SR) thus publicly expressed their disagreement with the procedure and subjected the new ministerial leadership to harsh criticism. On the basis of the Government's programme declaration, the process of setting the direction of the entire sector in Slovakia for the next four years is being set. According to Tomáš Kohút from SANAGRA, it should be a matter of course that the ministry's representatives set the development of the agri-food sector on the basis of the knowledge of people who have been working in the sector on a daily basis for many years.
The full text on the discontent of agri-food producers can be found here: http://www.sppk.sk/clanok/3229?start