Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.33128/k.67.2.2
Economic and social challenges in cattle production in the Republic of Croatia from 1991 to 2024
Pero Mijić
orcid.org/0000-0003-3344-9317
; Fakultet agrobiotehničkih znanosti Osijek, Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku, Osijek, Hrvatska
*
Tina Bobić
; Fakultet agrobiotehničkih znanosti Osijek, Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku, Osijek, Hrvatska
Zdenko Ivkić
; Hrvatska agencija za poljoprivredu i hranu, Centar za stočarstvo, Osijek, Hrvatska
Ante Ivanković
orcid.org/0000-0002-2523-8694
; Agronomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
* Dopisni autor.
Sažetak
This article presents the current state of cattle production in the Republic of Croatia, with a focus on various economic and social challenges that have characterized this production from 1991 to 2024. The transformation from a socialist to a market economy took place with a number of different challenges (security, political, economic, and health), which ultimately significantly disrupted the state of cattle production. Thus, in this observed period, over 90% of cattle farms in Croatia stopped producing milk. The amount of purchased milk for 2023 was around 377 million kg, which comprises approximately 40% of Croatia self-sufficiency in milk, while the total mass of cattle carcasses was around 41,200 tons, which comprises approximately 74% of self-sufficiency in beef. The total number of cattle is around 415,000, 71,000 of which around are cows in milk production. The foreign trade balance in milk and dairy products is in a negative relationship of €290 million per year, while the value of beef imports to Croatia is as much as 5.4 times higher than the value of exports. It will take considerable time and capital investments to stabilize and improve the current situation in cattle production. Previous efforts to recover the sector have been difficult to implement due to the great pressure of importing cheaper dairy and meat products from EU Member States, where there are large surpluses from cattle production. Also, many of the proposed measures to recover the sector by the relevant Ministry have been too slow, bureaucratic, and without professional supervision in their implementation. Recovery measures should be focused on the revision of existing subsidies and supports, improvement of current state of facilities and equipment, an incrase in expertise and technological innovations on farms, greater involvement in the promotion of domestic products, involving farms in green and sustainable management policies while strengthening the producer and breeding associations, as well as on the preventive measures to preserve the cattle health status.
Ključne riječi
cattle breeding; milk production; meat production; economic and social challenges; Republic of Croatia
Hrčak ID:
343799
URI
Datum izdavanja:
12.1.2026.
Posjeta: 343 *