Socio-economic implications of adopting the EU laying hen welfare regulation in Serbia

Rodić, Vesna; Perić, Lidija; Stojčić, Mirjana Djukić; Vukelić, Nataša; Škrbić, Zdenka

doi:10.1017/s0043933912000281

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…For example, in Serbia there are not many consumers who buy eggs from enriched cages and alternative housing systems. Most of those who buy such eggs pay a higher price for them, not because of their willingness to contribute to the welfare of the laying hens, but because they worry about their own health (RODIĆ et al, 2013). It is realistic to expect that there will be a similar delay in raising awareness when it comes to KBD.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the given period for the transition of just two years was too short and the egg sector was not ready to meet all the requirements. Under the pressure of the poultry farmers' association, supported by scientific conclusions on the economic incapacity of the sector for such a quick transition to permitted systems (RODIĆ et al, 2012), full implementation of EU-style laying hen welfare regulations has been postponed several times so far.…”

Section: The Laying Hen Welfare Legislation In Serbiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the fact that consumers' knowledge about farming and animal welfare issues is rather limited, improving the welfare of farm animals has become one of the main demands in the food market of developed countries. One could say that the improvement of the animal welfare legislation has been mainly (though not exclusively, see POZA, 2007) driven by citizens' expectations and market demands (ALONSO et al, 2020) and based on consequent research and policy recommendation (RODIĆ et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancement of laying hen welfare regulation in Serbia: a lesson to be learned from the EU experience to reduce the prevalence of keel bone damage

V. Rodić,

L. Perić,

J. Despotović*

et al. 2023

Europ.Poult.Sci.

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To improve laying hen welfare the EU banned conventional cages more than a decade ago. However, it turned out that permitted hen housing systems are not rid of animal welfare problems. One of them is an alarmingly high prevalence of keel bone damage (KBD) in alternative housing systems. For non-EU countries, like Serbia, where keeping laying hens in conventional cages has not yet been officially abandoned, it is very important to learn the lesson from the EU experience. However, the question is who could/should initiate the legislation change, since it is hypothesized in this paper that current knowledge about KBD in Serbia is limited. The main aim of this paper is to find out stakeholders' knowledge and perceptions about KBD in order to identify initiator(s) for the enhancement of the regulation on laying hen welfare in Serbia. For this purpose, a survey has been conducted. A total of 547 respondents representing main stakeholders (57 poultry farmers, 159 poultry experts/professionals, and 331 citizens/consumers) were interviewed. The obtained results confirmed the initial hypothesis that, in general, knowledge about the topic of KBD is very low. Particularly low is the knowledge of citizens. It is therefore not to be expected that this change in welfare standards will be initiated by the general public. Despite farmers' somewhat better knowledge of KBD, it is unrealistic to expect them to initiate changes that are likely to impose costs on their business. Hence, the only driving force behind legislative changes could/should be experts/professionals. Their knowledge is also limited but is better than the knowledge of other stakeholders. The agricultural advisory service, as well as veterinarians, should play a strong role in this process and should act as soon as possible by giving recommendations to decision-makers for the laying hens' welfare regulation enhancement.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Laying Hen Welfare Legislation In Serbiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancement of laying hen welfare regulation in Serbia: a lesson to be learned from the EU experience to reduce the prevalence of keel bone damage

V. Rodić,

L. Perić,

J. Despotović*

et al. 2023

Europ.Poult.Sci.

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“…In Europe, consumers in 2019 go a step further in demand and in September 2019, a European citizens' initiative called "End the Cage Age", which called for the abolition of cage systems for laying hens and for which over a million signatures were collected, was given for public debate in the European Parliament (European Parliament, 2019). In Serbia, there is little research on consumer attitudes (Rodić et al, 2010;Rodić et al, 2012;Pavlovski et al, 2011), which indicate a tendency to increase awareness of welfare over the last decade, and Tolimir et al (2019) indicate that consumers need to be educated in this area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes of Serbian producers and consumers of table eggs on the ban on conventional batteries and the transition to enriched cages and alternative production systems

Толимир¹,

Maslovarić²,

Škrbić

et al. 2020

BIOTEC ANIM HUSB

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The aim of the survey was to determine how the egg production sector is complying with animal welfare legislation, which requires a ban on conventional cages and the transition to permitted systems for rearing laying hens - enriched cages and alternative systems, as well as the attitudes of egg producers and consumers on the impact of permitted systems of egg production/purchase and hen welfare. The survey included producers (50), with 1000 and more hens, where in the sample, the percentage share of producers was according to the capacity - the size of the farm, i.e. similar to the share in the total egg production in Serbia. A consumer survey (261) established their views on the impact of the welfare of layers and the rearing system when buying eggs. According to the test results, it can be stated that: when switching to permitted rearing systems, enriched cages were the choice of all surveyed producers (100%) and that in the transition period from 2014 to autumn 2020, 16.3% of respondents switched from conventional cages to enriched ones (2.04% in full and 14.29% in part). According to the results obtained, 80.49% of them are planning to switch from a conventional cage system to another rearing system, of which 60.98% said they would do so if they had the financial means, while about 19% of producers believe they will be forced to leave production. All producers expect that the transition to enriched cages will lead to a reduction in their production, and 83.33% of them believe that it will be from 20 to 40%. Surveyed producers (87.18%) expect that the transition from conventional cages will increase production costs, and 65.11% believe that this will not affect the welfare of layers. A survey of consumer attitudes found that when buying eggs, the production system was very important for 19.91% of consumers, and for 19.41% of consumers it was not important at all, while the welfare of layers was very important for 26.84% and not at all important for 10.32% of consumers. The conclusion of the research is that in Serbia the transition to permitted rearing systems is slow, that harmonization with legal regulations is a great challenge and that changes are expected in the coming period that may have far-reaching consequences for the sector of table egg production.

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Socio-economic implications of adopting the EU laying hen welfare regulation in Serbia

Cited by 2 publications

References 10 publications

Enhancement of laying hen welfare regulation in Serbia: a lesson to be learned from the EU experience to reduce the prevalence of keel bone damage

Enhancement of laying hen welfare regulation in Serbia: a lesson to be learned from the EU experience to reduce the prevalence of keel bone damage

Attitudes of Serbian producers and consumers of table eggs on the ban on conventional batteries and the transition to enriched cages and alternative production systems

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