Brilliant investment worth HRK 60 million will increase farm capacity to 255,000 laying hens

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday visited a new family-run chicken farm in which HRK 60 million was recently invested, increasing its capacity to 255,000 laying hens.

After visiting the Lukač company, which has produced eggs for the past 30 years, Plenković said the company had contributed to Zagreb County's economic development.

"The company employs 80 people and is a brilliant example of entrepreneurship... it develops cooperation with key retail chains and hotels and in that way contributes to Croatia's agriculture, production and development with the most modern technology and in line with EU standards," said Plenković.

The company's owner, Marijan Lukač, said the new farm has a capacity of 165,000 laying hens that can produce about 50 million eggs a year.

The Lukač farm has a total of 250,000 laying hens at two locations and they produce up to 75 million eggs a year.

Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković said the farm was a family vision that had been developed since 1992 and that the ministry and government tried to contribute to it with their measures.

She thanked PM Plenković and the government for putting emphasis on agriculture, adding that despite the difficult circumstances in 2020 the sector had experienced a growth.

"Agriculture has grown continually over the past three years, which is partially owing to the circumstances but also owing to investment measures from the Rural Development Programme, which have been resulting in the structural transformation of rural areas," said Vučković.

To date more than 65% of funds from the Rural Development Programme have been disbursed. Agreements for projects worth close to HRK 750 million have been signed for Zagreb County, the minister said, adding that together with direct aid, the value of project contracts signed in the current programming period under the Rural Development Programme exceeded HRK 1.8 billion.

Asked by reporters to comment on Lukač's statement that he had to wait for six years to settle red tape for the latest investment, the prime minister said, "Of course, that's too long."

"Administrative and judicial procedures have to be accelerated and made more efficient, more purposeful. It is not good that obstacles - and as far as I understand, they had to do with construction and not agriculture - last too long. We have to make an effort for the institutions concerned to issue their decisions faster," said Plenković.

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