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1. In 2002 there were rumours that those selling dairy products at the Zagreb open markets will be obliged to buy and set up the refrigerators at the marketplaces themselves. Such a regulation would exclude from business all of the traditional
milkmaids, and award the business only to big dairy farms and industry. Afterwards, there were rumours that each milkmaid will have to rent a refrigerated point of sale for 1000 kuna per month (130 Euros). As most of the milkmaids have two to three
cows, and mostly come to town once a week, there are only a few of them able to afford the rise in price. Even a much smaller rise in price will be considered as a problem by most of them. 50% of the milkmaids at the Dolac marketplace, the best marketplace
in Zagreb, do not make more than 3000 kuna per month, which leaves them with the salary of 1500 kuna at the maximum.
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2. The implementation of the new regulations on the quality of fresh milk, as well as an independent control system for the dairy industry is one of the conditions for Croatia to join the European Union in the future. As a newly built laboratory started controlling
the milk in the summer of 2002, it came out that more than 80% of Croatian milk does not fit the EU standards. Therefore, the export of Croatian milk was suspended. The new regulations also lowered the price of milk, which affected the individual farmers.
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3. The Zagreb dairywomen are mostly among those 95% of Croatian milk producers that either have up to three cows (61.91% of all producers) or from four to nine cows (33.37%). It has to be assumed that the restructuring of the dairy industry, which aims to raise the
number of cows kept by individual Croatian dairy producers up to the number prescribed by EU standards, will lead in the near future to great social changes. The Zagreb milkmaids have an average of 4 cows, and have been reducing the number of their cows progressively since the early 1990s.
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4. The reasons for the difficulties which the traditional fresh cheese and cream market has been experiencing in the last decade are complex: pauperisation of the citizens as a progressive characteristic of the1990s; office and working hours switched from a socialistic time slot (7 or 8 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m.)
to the western office-hours model; there are noticeable changes in buying and nutritional habits of the citizens caused by the development of big shopping centres (Metro, Getro, Billa, Mercantone, Konzum), the importing of foreign dairy products, the development of the Croatian dairy industry and the increase
in credit card shopping.
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5. In September and October 2003, we interviewed 448 milkmaids working at 6 open market places in Zagreb. Through a questionnaire consisting of 41 items, we gathered information about their personal, family and social situations. We prepared a data base and statistics that we offer to whom it may concern, to the
responsible institutions, as well as individuals.
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6. On 31 August 2002, at 11 o'clock at the Dolac Marketplace, by handing out free cheese and cream, symbolically highlighting the deep links between the Zagreb milkmaids and the citizens, we started off an initiative the aim of which is to ensure the milkmaids' survival. The following handed out free fresh cheese
and cream to members of the public: Katica Bzig, of Bregovlje, 57 years of work at Dolac Marketplace; Marija Spoljar, of Donja Bistra, 55 years of work at Dolac Marketplace; Marica Senicic, of Jakovlje, 44 years at Dolac Marketplace; Kristina Leko, artist, the initiator of the project. The Urban Festival organized
the event, with its team of fifteen young people managing the event. We gave away 160 portions of cheese and cream, handed out over 500 fliers and collected 277 signatures of citizens supporting their milkmaids. By September 2003, in Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Berlin and Ljubljana, 650 people have put their signatures in our
"Book of Requests for 22nd Century".
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