Brussels, 10/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - Liam Aylward (UEN, Ireland) will shortly present the first draft of his (own initiative) report considering the future of the sheep and goat sector to the European Parliament agriculture committee, something that was welcomed by EU agricultural organisations in a press release published on Thursday 6 September.
“This report comes just at the right time: the market situation for European lamb is very difficult (particularly because of bluetongue outbreaks),” said Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the EU (COPA) and the General Confederation of Agricultural Co-operatives in the EU (COGECA). “European sheep meat producers are still willing to continue their activity. Sheep farming contributes hugely to sustain the European model of agriculture and brings environmental assets to society,” he went on. The COPA-COGECA working party on sheep intends to work very closely with Mr Aylward in drafting the above mentioned report. According to COPA-COGECA, the key issues to be investigated are: - ways to promote sheep meat consumption; - labelling for lamb sold in the European market; - third countries' access to the EU sheep and goat market; - increasing competitiveness and securing farmers' revenues; - the different levels of profit margin among all the operators in the food chain; - health issues and availability of veterinary medicines for small ruminants. (lc)