Following a discussion held in the Economics Committee earlier today (Thursday) on the issue of expanding egg quotas in Israel, regulations approved by the Ministry of Agriculture were approved in the first place, as authorized by law – but without the consent of the poultry farmers. Thus, in 2022 quotas will be added to another 615 million eggs per year (an increase of about 25%), which is expected to significantly alleviate the shortage created by avian influenza, and facilitate the transition to freedom at the systemic level, as required by the Ministry of Agriculture. Most quotas will be added to new breeders who do not yet have quotas, with an emphasis on minority populations (Arabs, Druze, Circassians) who to date have received only token quotas. However, it is feared in the poultry industry that this will be a significant step towards the abolition of the almost-unique centralized planning in Israel.
The coopers prefer to compromise on regulations presented by the Ministry of Agriculture, as the secretary general of the Israel Farmers Association, Avshalom (Abu) Villan, explained: “We prefer to have regulations that we do not like over a situation in which there are no regulations. “There has already been a ruling by the High Court on this issue.” Villan refers to the High Court ruling on Rafi Dayan, a farmer from the northern region and owner of the Green 2000 company. Although the Minister of Agriculture may sign regulations in retrospect (which led to the destruction of Dayan’s poultry and eggs), in the period between the beginning of the calendar year and the application of the quotas – the planning does not exist.
This is why, despite Agriculture Minister Oded Forer expressing a willingness to postpone the decision until next Sunday, growers’ representatives and committee chairman Michael Bitton preferred to vote on regulations as early as tonight to prevent the legal loophole that would undermine existing central planning.
Poultry Board: “Humiliated come out of here”
Shimon Bitton, the breeders’ representative on the Poultry Council, was furious at the situation in which they are forced to bow to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and said harsh things: “We leave here humiliated. We were humiliated here every hour. “In the state of Israel. Eggs will come here from Turkey and no one will have control – neither the aggressor nor the price. This is a vicious plan that they failed to include in the arrangements law. No farmer will survive his regulations, the agriculture minister wants agriculture to move to Turkey and Ukraine, Jordan and Egypt. .
He was also joined by MK Michael Malkieli (Shas): “The Ministry of Finance arrived with a 5 kg ax on the towers with the threat of increasing the quotas. The Ministry of Finance does not understand the plight of the growers. Whoever is to blame is Forer’s big boss (Finance Minister Lieberman, AA) who does damage everywhere. “When Shas returns to the government, we will do everything we can to reduce the damage that Lieberman is doing to the economy. We are in the opposition, and we have a cruel finance minister. We hope that his cruelty will be short-lived.”
Agriculture Minister Forer promised to continue negotiations on substantial reform in the entire poultry industry, and later agreed to open the clauses that were also voted on. , According to the requirement of the veterinary service – sets off.
Inmels said that “approved regulations allocate new quotas only to cage-free coops – this is an important and significant step towards the end of the cage era. Unfortunately, regulations also include additional quotas for some existing cage coops, and we hope A goal in which Israel will fully move to cages without cages, as was done in 17 countries that decided to ban cages. “
On behalf of Rafi Dayan, it was stated that “I am glad that I was able to do something for the laying industry that lays spoiled eggs. In my opinion, with all due respect to the addition of quotas and clatter from another High Court in the form I submitted,
Note that most of the addition is to existing towers and the addition to minorities is only for national priority areas. And also, the price of the egg remains high and guaranteed! So to May Nafka Mina? What’s more, it is not economical to set up small chicken coops. “