“Jolly Livestock in Turkey and EU Project”, which is conducted by SETBİR and qualified for a grant within the scope of “Civil Society Dialogue V Program” started on April 1, 2019.
The subject of the project is to ensure animal welfare on the farm and during transportation. Animal welfare is a concept that emphasizes the quality of life of livestock and includes physical and mental health, welfare and happiness and long life.
Animal welfare in farms means adequate and quality nutrition, the availability of land per animal, the structure of the soil, the quality of air and the availability of shelters in terms of temperature. While taking into account these factors in modern farms, due to the limited possibilities of small family farms, bovine and ovine animal welfare in Turkey is not in sufficient level. On the other hand, due to the inadequacy of quality pasture areas and external dependence of feed production in Turkey, there are problems in feeding process. In physical conditions in animal shelters, efforts towards improvement are continuing compared to the past.
Properties such as the loading of animals into transport vehicles, the characteristics of loading and unloading ramps, the area per animal in the vehicle, the characteristics of the transport vehicle, road and climatic conditions have a direct impact on animal welfare.
In this context, the project will be carried out with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the partnership of Valencia Regional Food Business Federation (FEDACOVA) from Spain in order to solve these problems related to livestock sector.
For this purpose, within the scope of our project;
- The best practice examples of EU will be examined, compared, guidelines will be reviewed and adapted to our country,
- A guide will be prepared with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on animal welfare in our country,
- Training will be given for animal breeders and border control staff,
- Information visits will be organized to increase the awareness of drivers and their process-specific specializations,
- A communication strategy will be prepared and communication tools will be developed, project website and mobile application design will be made,
- Visits to the two countries concerned in order to see the best practice examples in the EU in place.
Training activities and information visits to be realized within the scope of our project will be organized in Edirne, Bursa, Balıkesir, Mersin and Erzurum provinces. Our project partner FEDACOVA will assist in the on-site examination of the best practices of EU and the provision of EU legislation and guidelines.
For drivers using animal transport vehicles, drivers’ chambers will be visited in the provinces where the trainings will be organized and information will be shared about the tasks and expected results of the project and information will be provided on the outputs.