MP Josip Krizanic of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) warned in Parliament on Wednesday that the current state of pig farming in the country is disastrous, and called on Croatians to buy quality Croatian-grown meat.

Krizanic also called on Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolusic to protect Croatians from poor quality meat imports.

“The domestic pig-farming sector is collapsing, swine flu has appeared in neighbouring countries, which has disrupted the meat trade, and retail chains in Croatia have been importing enormous quantities of cheap, subsidised, meat of questionable quality from Hungary and the Czech Republic, thus dealing a final blow to domestic pig farmers,” Krizanic told Parliament.

He added that importers were importing live pigs and meat subsidised via exporter subsidies, forcing domestic pig farmers to lower their prices to just 7 kuna (€0.9) per kilo, which he said is 2 kuna below the cost to produce it.

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