Brussels, 01/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - If there is no control of pig production at European level or a reorientation of the dominant modes of production, “the European pig sector will not find a way out of the present and continuing structural crisis” thereby impeding “its ability to meet crucial challenges like providing jobs in the agricultural sector, caring for the environment and ensuring territorial balance”, according to the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), which says in a press release published on Friday 1 April that the EU must address the structural roots of the crisis.
ECVC says that the structural problem of over-production is due to there being too many pigs, and the extreme dependence on soybean imports makes it a fragile industry. Equally, the endless process of industrialisation of production is unwarranted given the needs of producers and consumers. The organisation rails against the false solutions offered by the agri-industrial lobby, such as restructuring of production, easing imports of GM soy, pig-manure treatment or income insurance. It would be much better to “act upstream and regulate supply”, it says.
ECVC proposes: - managing supply at European and national levels (a necessary condition in order to achieve a fair income for producers): this can be done by adjusting production to true European demand; - progressively restricting the size of pig farms by setting a maximum threshold of pigs per farm and per hectare; - ending the concentration of production which reduces the number of producers instead of decreasing the number of pigs; - stopping the aggressive stance of the EU on foreign markets (when the EU imports 75% of its plant proteins) and instead, achieving control of imports; - reorienting modes of production (to halt pollution of waters and coastlines and restore long-term fertility to European and South-American soils): there must be no further exemptions to the nitrates directive and industrial processing of pig-manure must no longer receive public funding; - castrating piglets: ECVC opposes the injection of Improvac-R, a product sold by Pfizer as a “vaccine”, which acts directly on the pituitary gland of pigs and whose effects on human and animal health are not really known. It suggests that the slaughter-weight of pigs be scaled down by testing for boar taint prior during the slaughter process. Until this happens, producers should be allowed to continue castration with an analgesic. (L.C./transl.rt)