On the 12th of July during the “Ecological manipulations: Price (cost) for Ukraine” briefing, 16 professional Ukrainian associations, including the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders, signed the Memorandum on cooperation. Professional Association of Ecologists of Ukraine initiated the event.
“Pig production, as well as other livestock industries, is connected directly to the production of by-products, such as manure and livestock mortalities, and therefore is a subject to environmental manipulations. As a result, ecology is often reduced to blackmailing and corruption schemes.” – commented Oksana Yurchenko, the head of Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders.
The expert singled out the following typical problems that are called “ecoterrorism” by pig producers:
- Complex and nontransparent regulatory structure, which creates corruption element upon receiving permits and possibilities for penalty charges during the inspections.
- Creating a negative image for the industry in the media, resulting in farms being called the cause of infertility, cancer and other diseases among the people living close to facilities.
- Even the availability of all permits and positive inspection results does not guarantee that the people would not go protesting and would not obstructs roads to the facility. For example, the farm is being blamed for the overwhelming odor, but the problem will be “solved” under the condition that the owner builds a kindergarten for local children. Frequently residents are the main leverage during election campaigns, where closing the facility is being viewed as additional points in favor of unscrupulous deputy candidate.
- Environmental activists are a very popular corruption element. Under the disguise of environmental care, all they manage to do is collect money to prevent the facility from closing down.
“We do not say that there are no lawbreakers among pig producers! Or that all organizations that care for the environment are dishonest! We are signing the Memorandum with other professional associations precisely to prevent using environmentalism for manipulation purposes. We are going to advocate the interests together and make the environmental industry transparent!”— added Mrs. Yurchenko.
The text of the Memorandum can be found here.
Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders — is a non-profit voluntary organization. Established in July 14-th, 2011. At present, AUPB unites 41 farms, supplying over 50% of commercial pork in Ukraine. The main objective of the Association is to protect rights and interests of pig producers, achieve international standards of production due to implementation of modern technologies.