There is probably no greater outrage against the peasant than not allowing him access to the market for selling agricultural products. Behind those ubiquitous buyers-up who have tightly seized the meat rows at the markets, the rural man cannot get through. And there is also a numerous corps of procurers – an intermediary cohort between the market and the producer, which profits perhaps most of all from the latter, regulating prices and the situation on the food market.
With the new heads of the executive power of the Kovel district, I visited the self-financing market last weekend. Strange as it may seem, only two peasants were selling meat here that day; all the rest of the sellers were local residents. We talked with the market director and at the same time city council deputy Fedir Savonik about the shameful phenomenon when buyers-up artificially create conditions under which an individual farmer can hardly sell meat on his own.
Back in early March of this year, Fedir Savonik issued an order prohibiting entrepreneurs from carrying out so-called procurement of meat on the territory of the market, where 15 additional places had been created specifically for rural producers. However, this did not frighten the buyers-up. Early in the morning they stand at the market like a "partisan barrier," intercepting meat from the peasants. According to Fedir Levkovych, if an individual farmer is "not persuaded," then he will trade. True, without succumbing to the persistent offers of the "speculators" to sell their products, and having "slipped" through this artificial barrier, he still needs to pass a meticulous veterinary inspection. And a place in the pavilion, as Fedir Savonik claims, will always be found.
The current agitation on the market connected with rising prices is explained by Minister of Agrarian Policy Oleksandr Baranivskyi as the actions of importers and buyers-up. Unfortunately, the smuggling of Ukrainian meat to Russia has not been stopped to this day; it is transported mostly on passenger trains in the directions of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moreover, the best grades are being taken out. This is evidenced by the results of monitoring conducted by the Cabinet of Ministers. According to the minister, the price was raised either by those engaged in imports or by intermediaries who take meat from the producer and then bring it to the market.
The Cabinet of Ministers proposed lowering the import duty on meat and fish. Local producers are categorically against the import of meat products, asserting that cheap frozen meat brought in from abroad makes domestic products uncompetitive.
Farmers and buyers-up with whom I spoke at the market together with the heads of the Kovel district say that, having heard about the meat intervention, villages began mass slaughtering of young cattle and pigs. As a result, the purchase price decreased by 2-3 hryvnias per kilogram of "live" weight, and the producer actually receives 4-5 hryvnias less per kilogram of meat. And in this situation, it was again the village that suffered first of all, because if purchase prices "fell" substantially, then a reduction in selling prices on the market is not observed. For example, a kilogram of veal tenderloin in Kovel on Saturday could be bought for 19-25 hryvnias, whereas the rural man receives 6.5 hryvnias per kilogram of "live" weight from the procurer. Although just two weeks ago the purchase of young stock was carried out at a price of 11-12 hryvnias per kilogram.
At one time, the district authorities tried to artificially prevent the wholesale slaughtering of young cattle by prohibiting local veterinary services from issuing peasants the certificate required for selling meat. This method, although unlawful, was effective. The new heads of the Kovel district reject such a path.
- I have to visit villages every day, – says the head of the Kovel district state administration Vadym Hryshchuk. – Ordinary people are concerned about the situation on the food market. At meetings they say that they could fully meet the market's demand, including that of processing enterprises, for high-quality meat raw materials, and this, in turn, would contribute to stabilizing prices. A barrier needs to be created at the border for low-grade foreign products. And this is where the foresight and consistency of our government officials must show, because at the level of one individual district it is extremely difficult to change the situation for the better. Although we are implementing a program of preferential lending to rural producers when purchasing young cattle and pigs from the population.
Sad as it is, the government is conducting the Easter fast under the sign of meat. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko first tried to persuade meat processing plants to lower prices, and now she is encouraging peasants to raise pigs and cattle, promising to pay subsidies for every kilogram of weight. The Cabinet of Ministers already has experience in subsidizing the agro-industrial complex. Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk says that previously they subsidized first the purchase of seed material, then the purchase of fuel, machinery and much else; supposedly, the time has come to remember the final product and decide.
By the end of April, government officials assure, meat will become twice as cheap. To lower prices, auctions are being organized. At them, the state material reserve, with money allocated by the Ministry of Finance, will purchase pork and beef, which will then be sold to the population at lower prices than now. Yulia Tymoshenko is confident that the government will be able to purchase meat on domestic markets at real wholesale prices. From April 15, the Cabinet of Ministers is introducing monitoring of prices for meat products with the involvement of the tax inspectorate in order to prevent speculation in connection with the reduction of wholesale prices. But there are great fears that this time too producers will suffer from all this.
Yaroslav HAVRYLIUK