Vice President and Member of Parliament of the Social Democrats Domagoj Hajduković he said on Saturday that the already underdeveloped beekeeping production is placed on an even lower level and on the margin of agricultural production by the proposed Ordinance on beekeeping.
At the press conference “Appeal to save Croatian beekeeping from its cradle – Osijek.” Hajduković reminded that today ends the public debate on the new Ordinance on beekeeping, which was last changed in 2008, and for which about a hundred comments from long-time beekeepers were received.
He asserted that the Rulebook aims to enable one association, the Croatian Beekeeping Association, to act as the basic authority for all beekeeping associations and producers through their pasture commissioners.
Hajduković believes that they will decide as they wish – who, where, when and how many of their beehives can be placed on their own or someone else’s property. He assessed that the competent Ministry prevents, limits and distorts free market competition.
He asks why the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture, to which beekeepers pay membership fees, is not intended as an authority for all beekeeping associations, rather than giving special powers to only one association to collect membership fees and decide on someone’s rights.
He notes that due to the war in Ukraine, the pandemic and disruptions in supply chains, domestic agricultural production is more important today than ever.
Parliamentary representative Romana Nikolić assessed that the proposed Ordinance on beekeeping is “illegal, unconstitutional, illogical and directly harms not only beekeepers, but also the bees themselves”.
He believes that long-term beekeepers are being “expelled” or that they move their hives to Velebit or that they give up on this activity.
The consequence could be a reduced number of subjects engaged in honey production and a drop in honey production, Nikolić is convinced. He reminds that in 2020 there was a 30 percent drop in honey production, and that with this rulebook, an even greater shortage of honey is to be expected.
He claims that the Minister of Agriculture, Mariju Vučković, is destroying beekeeping production, calling in honey of dubious quality from other countries, and putting beekeeping production at the bottom of society.