A proposed ban on the sale of raw milk, curds and meat produced by households in Ukraine, which is to be introduced from January 1, 2015, might lead to a significant reduction in cattle numbers at private farms and the invigoration of informal trade, according to industry experts.
The head of “The Development of the Market Infrastructure” in the
USAID AgroInvest Project, Mykola Hrytsenko, said at a press conference
in Kyiv that the country still lacks a state network of points to accept
milk and meat, through which it was planned in 2015 to organize the
“civilized” sale of products produced at private farms.
He said that for the implementation of this program, the law on the
safety and quality of food foresaw Hr 2 billion from the national
budget. At the same time, the expert said that by the deadline Ukraine
would not manage to create the necessary infrastructure, therefore the
coming into force of the legal norm on the ban on the sale of animal
products produced at private farms should be postponed by at least two
years.
“There will be a ban – they will not be allowed to sell on the
market. What will happen? The first possible option is a reduction in
the cattle numbers. Another one is the invigoration of resellers, which
will buy products from private farmers at low prices and bring them to
an informal slaughtering plant. Let’s be honest: they will find some
document that will legalize this meat when entering the market,” said
Hrytsenko.
