Ukraine Has Made Tremendous Progress in Animal Welfare

Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotskyi said this during a forum, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.

«European integration is not only about adopting the necessary legislation and aligning our standards with European Union law. Above all, it is about concrete changes that must work in practice. In the area of farm animal welfare, we already have clear commitments and have identified the necessary steps in the Roadmap through 2028. Our task now is to ensure their consistent implementation: from preparing public authorities and market operators to effective control and day-to-day compliance with the requirements,» he noted.

At the same time, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Denys Bashlyk emphasised the positive transformation in how Ukrainian businesses perceive European standards.

«Just 8–9 months ago, farmers viewed animal welfare as a formal requirement of European integration. Today, we are seeing tremendous progress: the formal approach is disappearing even among small and medium-sized producers. Our main task now is to move from theory to practice, drawing on the experience of our European partners, particularly France, which has already successfully gone through this process,» he said.

Vidmantas Paulauskas, Head of the EU4SaferFood Project, and Manon Schuppers, international expert of the QFTP programme, noted Ukraine’s significant progress and confirmed their readiness to continue supporting the development of the official control system, strengthening the capacity of competent authorities and training farmers.