ZAGREB, 8 March, 2021 - The chair of the Croatian Parliament Committee on Agriculture, Marijana Petir, has sent an initiative to the Minister of Agriculture to include activities aimed at improving the status of women in rural areas in the Agricultural Strategy and introduce a special sub-programme for women in rural areas.

Given that the Agricultural Strategy 2020-2030 is in the final stage of preparation, it is important for women in rural areas to be included in it in a separate section. That, in turn, would require preparation of an action plan that would deal with the status of women in rural areas, Petir said on the occasion of International Women's Day.

The plan would, among other things, address such important issues as the "invisible work" of farm women, access to land ownership, achieving economic independence, preventing the risk of poverty and unemployment, and increasing the representation of women in decision-making bodies.

Petir said that the national strategic plan, which is being developed, should include a special sub-programme for women in rural areas as provided for by the EU's common agricultural policy. Such a sub-programme could improve the status of women in rural areas, create jobs for them, help them in investing in physical assets, contribute to the development of farms and their operations, and ensure conditions for basic services and revitalisation of rural areas, she said.

"I hope that these activities will help improve the status of women in the rural areas of Croatia and that their irreplaceable role in sustaining the rural areas will start to be fairly evaluated," Petir said.

ZAGREB, 4 March, 2021 - During Thursday's debate on amendments to the Agriculture Act, the parliamentary opposition said Croatia's agriculture was collapsing due to poor policies, while Minister Marija Vučković dismissed such claims and said that agricultural production was growing.

Željko Lenart (HSS-HSU) said 33,000 hectares of valuable farmland from the former Agrokor conglomerate was now owned by the foreign Fortenova and that pig farming and milk production were collapsing.

He said the Farmland Act was not being honoured, that a stay on the sale of farmland to foreigners would soon end, and that the smallest farmers were being destroyed because only 6.5% of the biggest producers received the bulk of the aid.

Mišel Jakšić (Social Democrats) said the state of agriculture showed that the policies to date had not produced results because import was high and there was no self-sufficiency despite the potential.

Marija Selak Raspudić (Bridge) said 88 million tonnes a year was thrown away due to expiration dates and pushed for donating food to the needy and establishing a food bank.

Vučković said cereal production and cattle-framing were up and that food donations had gone up 13%, adding that it was necessary to reduce food waste.

Marijana Petir (ruling HDZ) pushed for regulating the aid system to facilitate the development of small and medium farmers. She announced a call for applications for HRK 120 million to help farmers in earthquake-hit areas.

ZAGREB, 4 March, 2021 - About 75 kilograms of food is thrown out each year in Croatia per head, lawmakers underlined on Thursday during a debate on an agriculture bill which among other things regulates the prevention of waste food.

"Food waste has reached a value of 20% of the total amount of food produced in Europe and on the global level losses amount to one-third of all the food produced, while in Croatia we throw out 75 kilograms of food each year per head," said MP Marijana Petir of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) caucus.

The agriculture bill, she said, would be the basis for documents that will regulate more clearly activities regarding food donations and preventing food waste, but also a system of quality food production.

The EU foresees reducing food waste by 50% by 2030 and we too have to achieve that aim, Petir underscored. "Any reduction of throwing out food means less pressure on farmland and reduced consumption of water, pesticides, and fertiliser."

MP Marija Selak Raspudić (Bridge) said that a quality system of food donations is important given the increasing poverty, but added that the bill does not provide a clear plan and that the most important thing would be to establish a food bank.

Anka Mrak Taritaš (GLAS) too underlined the need for a food bank so that surplus food can be distributed at the national level.

State Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry Tugomir Majdak said that the amount of donated food in 2019 had increased by 30% compared to 2018 and amounted to 1.5 million tonnes.

With regard to reducing food waste, Majdak explained that a guide has been prepared for food donations, a feasibility study for a food bank has been prepared, and tax reliefs on food donations have been defined.

The amendments to the law will align it with EU regulations regarding the prevention of food waste.

ZAGREB, April 25, 2019 - Marijana Petir, who is running in elections for the European Parliament, on Thursday presented her slate, saying that mattered who represented Croatia in the European Parliament, which was why she has decided to run for another term with people who understood ordinary people.

"Seventy percent of the legislation adopted at EU level must also be implemented by Croatia," Petir said while presenting other candidates on her slate - Domagoj Stjepan Krnjak, Mato Brlošić, Klementina Karanović, Neda Aberle, Zvonimir Kalić, Melita Vrbanek, Tvrtko Krpina, Ana Volarić-Mršić, Anka Musa, Ana Lazeta and Petar Jurčević.

Speaking about her work as a member of the European Parliament on defining policies concerning agriculture, rural development, environmental protection, sustainable development, human rights and the status of rural women, Petir said that she had been awarded as the best female member of the European Parliament in agriculture, rural development and fisheries.

She said that Croatian citizens had benefited directly from her work. "It was owing to my work that the EU approved subsidies for healthy milk, fruit and vegetable meals in schools and that food is bought from Croatian family farms. That has opened a new market for Croatian farmers, the first legal exception concerning the amount of the financial envelope for demining has been won, and I also worked on the adoption of the Directive on Unfair Trading Practices," she said.

She said that as the EP rapporteur on rural women she advocated a better status for rural women, adding that the EP had adopted her 100 amendments to the reform of the common agricultural policy.

Brlošić said that the common agricultural policy was exceptionally important for Croatian farmers who were allocated around 5 billion euro from the joint budget.

More news about the European elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 22, 2019 - The Croatian member of the European Parliament, Marijana Petir (EPP), is the recipient of this year's MEP Award for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, presented by The Parliament Magazine.

Petir was nominated by the European State Forest Association (EUSTAFOR) at the proposal of the Croatian Wood Cluster and the Croatian Exemplary Rural Women association, her office said in a press release on Thursday.

"It is with great honour and gratitude that I receive this award that represents the crowning of my work in the AGRI Committee in the past five years. I would like to dedicate this award to the Croatian farmers, the young ones who represent a real inspiration for me with the creativity and innovation they bring to agriculture," Petir said at the award-giving ceremony in Brussels on Wednesday evening.

The awards, also known as EU Oscars, were also presented for development; digital single market; economic and monetary affairs; education, culture and media; employment, social affairs and regions; energy; environment; health; industry, research and innovation; internal market and consumer protection; international trade; justice and gender equality; security and defence; and transport and tourism.

This year's Outstanding Achievement Award went to Guy Verhofstadt, the chairman of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the European Parliament.

"I think these awards are very important as they are proof of the existence of something that populists and nationalists always deny - the existence of a real, true, trans-national, pan-European democracy," Verhofstadt said at the ceremony.

More news on the European Parliament can be found in the Politics section.

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