On Tuesday, February 8, the government approved amendments to the procedure prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture for granting state support for entering breeding livestock in the studbook. State subsidies for livestock breeders in 2022 are set significantly higher – 19.5 million euros, compared to 9 million euros in 2021. This is a very important support for livestock farms to continue to operate successfully, to develop their business, to produce quality dairy and meat products. This will make a significant contribution to keeping the industry competitive and will reduce public concern about inadequately high prices for dairy and meat products on store shelves.
State support of breeding provides opportunities for farmers to raise genetically valuable animals to provide the population with high-quality dairy and meat products.
The changes stipulate that herd owners will also be compensated for the total cost of breeding implementation, which has been strongly affected by the rapidly rising price of energy resources.
Livestock farmers will receive the state support for breeding in the amount of 19.5 million euros:
- 8.9 million euros – for sows,
- 6.4 million euros – for milking dairy cows,
- 3.1 million euros – for suckler cows and heifers,
- 84.9 thousand euros – for milking dairy goats,
- 770 thousand euros – for breeding ewes,
- 188 thousand euros – for the establishment and maintenance of the studbook.
More than 4,600 livestock farms are expected to receive the state support.
Please note that livestock breeders’ organizations must submit applications for this support to the Rural Support Service by 15 March.
On the other hand, taking into account the tense situation in pig farming, it is planned to provide state support to pig farms as early as possible – the number of sows recorded on February 1 will be taken into account in the calculation of the breeding support (until now it was March 1).
In order to provide the population of Latvia with affordable, safe and high-quality locally produced food in a wide range and at competitive prices, the total amount of subsidies planned for farmers in 2022 is 38.7 million euros.
Information source: Ministry of Agriculture
