The cow has been a horn of plenty and a savior for many generations of
Ukrainians who endured wars, famines, collectivization, industrialization,
and occupations. Also today, when most villagers still employed by collective
ente
rprises have almost forgotten what money looks like, this noble animal
fills family budget coffers. Yet, in the foreseeable future, the cow may
become a relic in Ukraine.
Shortly before this harvest, statistics reported a 9% decline in the
number of livestock in the country since last year. What caused such a
dramatic decrease? It turns out that meat was traded for gasoline, diesel,
and spare parts for machinery, for virtually bankrupt collective enterprises
did not have money to pay for harvesting crops. Meat was also used to pay
off the urgent debts to the state budget.
Moreover, cows in collective enterprises are dying out due to the unreasonable
pricing policy. Only 20% of the total milk produced is sold since purchasing
prices of milk-processing factories are three times as low as the cost
price of milk. Every kilogram of milk means additional loss for a farm.
"If we could only restore crop pastures," says Volodymyr Dermenets, Deputy
Head of the Animal Husbandry Department of the Ministry of the Agroindustrial
Complex, "We would be able to reduce the cost price of milk." So far, dairy
farming has been of importance only to farms located close to urban areas.
According to specialists' forecasts, farms will continue to stand idle
and degrade. Since 1990, the number of dairy cattle in Ukraine has dropped
by 2.3 million head.
New farmers also do not find milk prices attractive. According to the
statistics, on average such farmers have almost the same number of cows
as a traditional collective enterprises.
As a result, city residents have milk and dairy products on their dinner
tables more and more rarely. The total milk yield in Ukraine has dropped
from 24.5 million tons in 1990 to 13.7 million tons in 1997. Tourists should
not be misled by a wide variety of dairy products on the store shelves-most
Ukrainians can no longer afford to buy this staple that not only farmers
but also city folk used to have with almost every meal. Quite a number
of city children are growing up without milk. And this is nothing but yet
one more threat to our national security.







