Production should not be cut back; instead, the kind of production that has a positive effect on emissions should be developed, Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze (ZZS) told the LETA agency.

On 13 June, A. Krauze met representatives of the Latvian Peat Association and the Latvian Peat Society to discuss the target scenario of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and the measures it includes for achieving climate policy goals in the land use, land-use change and forestry sector.

The minister said that, at the outset, representatives of agricultural, forestry and peat extraction companies had been concerned that production volumes might fall during the implementation of the NECP. The aim of the NECP is to combat climate change by reducing emissions and production volumes, but the view of the Ministry of Agriculture (ZM) is that production must continue to be developed.

In his conversation with representatives of the peat industry, Armands Krauze noted that the Ministry of Agriculture has chosen to support a scenario in which production volumes in Latvia are not reduced. He also said that, on the whole, it takes a positive view of developing processing plants in the forestry sector. Latvia already has a few such plants, for example in Tukums and near Valmiera, which process timber into board. He said that this kind of processing delivers high added value, creating new jobs and export products, as well as a positive balance in terms of emissions.

https://nra.lv/latvija/460426-ministrija-kudras-razosanu-ir-jaturpina-attistit.htm