Agriculture

Good news from Chile has reached manufacturers of milk products this week - an official permission has been granted for them to export their production to this country, Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT) reports.

Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT) has received a confirmation from Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply regarding a permit to export Lithuanian cheese Džiugas to Brazil.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė is against the proposal to give priority to local processors to buy timber produced in Lithuanian forests. According to the president, this would not only infringe the competition but would also create exceptional conditions to the major processors.

The Seimas Committee on Rural Affairs has addressed the Government asking to ban cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in Lithuania and thus implement the European Parliament's and the European Council's directive on GMOs.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says it is unrealistic to expect that European milk quota regime will be extended, but Lithuanian farmers can expect greater direct payments in the future.

Bosnia and Herzegovina opened its market to Lithuanian beef and its products, the Lithuanian Government said.

Last year, Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT) closely collaborated with competent institutions of Japan actively looking for new markets for Lithuanian food exporters.

Organisations representing Lithuanian farmers have addressed President Dalia Grybauskaitė in a letter asking to take "urgent and decisive" actions to "save" Lithuania's dairy sector.

In 2014, Lithuania harvested a record amount of grain, over 5 million tonnes.

Although Moscow claims that the Baltic countries and Poland will not be able to export pork to Russia for at least three more years, the head of the Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service believes that the European Commission (EC) will negotiate this issue with Russia.

The State Plant Service under the Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for monitoring crops and crop products, carried out 102,096 inspections in 2014 and found 1,184 violations. Nevertheless, genetically modified crops or crop products were not found to be grown or brought to Lithuania.

After member-states of the European Union have finally given their blessing to the Liliputas, a Lithuanian semi-hard cheese, the product will from now on be sold with a "protected geographical indication" logo.

The European Union (EU) will be unified in talks with Russia over possible lifting of sanctions for certain food products, Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said after a Farm Council meeting on Monday.

Lithuanian farmers say they are disappointed in Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, the Lithuanian EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.

According to the data of the end of December 2014, EUR 2 billion or 90 percent of financial support of the Rural Development Programme for 2007-2013 (RDP) were already paid to Lithuanian beneficiaries.

Andriejus Stančikas, chairman of the Chamber of Agriculture of Lithuania, is convinced that the European Union's (EU) decision to allow member-states to independently decide on growing GMO is not well-advised: more resilient and cheaper GMO crops will eventually push out traditional crops anyway.

Russia intends to lift sanctions on imports of food and farm products from certain European Union (EU) countries, which were introduced last August. However, the list of the countries does not include Lithuania, the Agriculture Minister and the Chief Veterinary Officer have said.

Lithuania's delegation at this year's Berlin International Green Week, an important international trade fair held annually in Berlin, is going to focus on finding new markets.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius has said he supports the plans of Agriculture Minister Virginija Baltraitienė to pass a temporary law that would regulate relations between dairy producers and processors.

The State Food and Veterinary Service of Lithuania said that African swine fever (ASF) was detected in two wild boars in Ignalina district and Kupiškis district, both in north east of the country. One boar was hunted down, while the other one died of natural causes.