After months of intense public protests, local communities and environmental groups in Croatia are celebrating a major victory after European poultry giant MHP withdrew from a chicken megaproject in northeast Croatia. The proposed megaproject would have quadrupled the country's chicken production. The withdrawal officially cancels 12 of the 24 planned sub-projects that had been divided between two companies, bypassing stricter environmental regulations.
The planned facility would have been among the largest poultry projects in Europe, designed to slaughter 100 million chickens annually. In a move that avoids stricter environmental impact assessments, the project was divided into 24 separate sub-projects of which MHP was responsible for half. MHP is one of Europe's largest poultry producers and slaughters over 500 million chickens each year. Local authorities recently confirmed the cancellation of MHP's sub-projects to Friends of the Earth (FoE) Croatia, Animal Friends Croatia, and local citizen groups who have led the campaign. Greenpeace International campaigners have supported the grassroots movement over the last three months, including speaking at rallies in the towns of Sisak and Donja Dubrava.
Jasna Šumanovac , Campaigner at Zelena Akcija (Friends of the Earth Croatia), said: "We welcome MHP's decision and at the same time call on them to, in accordance with their promises that they will not build farms and slaughterhouses in areas where there is strong resistance from the local community, abandon the construction of farms in the towns of Apatija and Veliki Pažut. The Ministry must now formally suspend all initiated procedures, and we will continue the fight until the last project is stopped."
Luka Oman, President at Prijatelji Životinja (Animal Friends Croatia), said: "Croatian citizens have clearly said no to mega poultry farms and slaughterhouses. The Government should stop ignoring citizens and expert warnings and finally reject all remaining mega-farm projects in Croatia. Where mega farms arrive, there is no life left - neither for animals nor for people."
The retreat by MHP follows sustained grassroots mobilisation, including large-scale public demonstrations in the capital city of Zagreb and Sisak, the regional hub of the affected area. Locals were concerned that the industrial poultry operation would pollute local soil, air and waterways, amongst other detrimental environmental impacts.[1] In a recent interview, the Chief Executive Officer of MHP, dubbed the 'Chicken King', tacitly conceded that the company pulled out of the region due to the intense local resistance.[2]
Despite the victory, the remaining 12 sub-projects are still being pursued by another investor, Premium Chicken Company (PCC). The developer has threatened local non-governmental organisations with lawsuits, echoing tactics used by other major corporations to silence community dissent.
Dániel Nyitray, Campaigner at Greenpeace International added: "This clucking mad mega-project posed a significant threat to public health and the environment, but communities in Croatia have come together to show that when we stand together, we can stop corporations and their billionaire bosses in their tracks.
"Wherever in the world agribusiness giants like MHP threaten to destroy nature and pollute our air and water in the name of profit, communities like these are organising to defend their land and livelihoods. While work still needs to be done to ensure the remainder of this development is canned, this is a huge victory for people power that sends a message to corporations everywhere: not here, not anywhere."
Croatia's local campaigns have vowed to continue fighting until PCC's portion of the project is also fully terminated. Activists are standing in solidarity with other communities across Croatia who are currently facing the threat of massive industrial meat production developments in their neighbourhoods. Greenpeace is calling on governments to set binding rules that halt new factory farms and hold Big Ag accountable for polluting local environments and exacerbating the global climate crisis.
