The third training of Animal Breeders within Civil Society Dialogue V – Jolly Livestock in Turkey and EU Project was carried out in cooperation with Erzurum Directorate of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry on 28th of February 2020 in Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry!
Union of Dairy, Beef, Food Industrialists and Producers of Turkey conducts “Jolly Livestock in Turkey and EU Project” that has started on 1st of April 2019 in partnership with Valencia Regional Food Business Federation (FEDACOVA) under Civil Society Dialogue Programme V.
The aim of the project is to increase animal welfare through practices commonly known by farmers, animal breeders, animal transport drivers, resting places and border control staff. The specific aim of the project is to develop tools to strengthen the capacity of the target group in animal welfare and to raise awareness to make animal welfare as a standard practice in line with regulations.
Within the project, the first training about the animal welfare of animal breeders was carried out in cooperation with Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on 24th of January 2020 in Mersin and the second training of animal breeders was done on 14th of February 2020 at Bursa Directorate of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry. Then the third training was carried out in cooperation with Erzurum Directorate of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry on 28th of February 2020 in Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The leader animal breeders who were invited from surrounding districts and the veterinarians who work districts directorate of agriculture were attended to the training.
The opening speech of the training was done by Deputy Manager of Erzurum Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Erhan Çiftgül. Mr. Çiftgül stated the importance of animal welfare. Çiftgül pointed out that if the animals live in a happy and high-welfare environment, it will increase the efficiency of the animals positively. Also Mr. Çiftgül remarked that Jolly Livestock Project will provide significant benefits to the livestock industry.
Then, a presentation was made by the project coordinator SETBİR, which includes the objectives, aims and target groups of the project, the activities to be performed and the results to be achieved after the opening speech of the Manager of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Mr. Aygül.
“Guideline for Animal Welfare in Farms” and “Guideline for Animal Welfare on Transport” which were prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Animal Health and Quarantine, explaining the animal welfare legislations and practices more clearly and their info sheets were given to the animal breeders and veterinarians who attended to the training.
For animal breeders, “What is Animal Welfare?”, “Animal Behaviour and animal Treatment” and “Welfare Indicators for Farm Animal” were explained by the veterinarian Ali Şimşek from Department of Animal Health and Quarantine.
In this context, the subjects in the training included what animal welfare is, its history and importance, five freedoms on animal welfare, the necessary conditions for animals to live well, the suggestions to generalize animal welfare implementations, the principles of animal guidance and how carers should treat animals.
At the last part of the training, “Animal Welfare During Their Transport” which is important because of domestic transport and live animal imports was explained by the veterinarian Cüneyt Turan from Department of Animal Health and Quarantine.
Mr. Turan mentioned on EU legislation on animal welfare and the harmonization of Turkey, the criteria for animal welfare in transportation, the requirements in the transportation, the structure of the transportation vehicles, the documents required for the transportation, the animal welfare during the loading and unloading of the animals.
The presentations were done interactively and so participation of the animal breeders and veterinarians were provided actively to the training.
The trainings for animal breeders within the project will continue and the fourth training will carry out on 1st of April 2020 in Balıkesir.
All the information about the project, the meeting notes, the presentations that were made in the trainings and the guidelines can be reached on www.hayvanrefahiprojesi.org.
At the end of the project, it is expected to strengthen the capacity for regulations concerning animal welfare in Turkey and Spain, to develop application standards with user-friendly vehicles and to increase awareness of the support for animal welfare and best practises in EU and Turkey.
About the programme
Civil Society Dialogue has emerged as an important step which strengthens social and cultural dialogue by making away with the biases and doubts between Turkey and EU and by ensuring the social integration of Turkey to Europe.
Civil Society Dialogue Programme which is implemented with EU’s financial support, was designed in 2006 by Directorate for EU Affairs (during those dates General Secretariat for EU Affairs) as a platform that will bring Turkey and EU member states from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) together around a common topic and will enable communities to get to know each other, exchange information and establish lasting dialogue. The first implementation of the program, which has been running for more than 10 years, started in 2008.
Fifth Term of Civil Society Dialogue Programme
Within the scope of Civil Society Dialogue V (CSD-V) which is implemented in the second period of IPA that involves the years of 2014 – 2020, 7 million Euro support was supplied to 40 dialogue projects that NGO’s from Turkey and from EU member/EU candidate countries will implement together. The projects that receive grants focus on dialogue development and cooperation themes and work on social issues for disadvantaged groups such as the disabled, the elderly and the refugees. The projects are implemented in areas such as gender equality, education, health, agriculture, food and environment.
