After the drought in the autumn sowing of wheat – no later than in 30 days, the payment of direct benefits to farmers

The increase in subsidies by 10,000 dinars is the result of a compromise between farmers and the Government of Serbia, agro-economic analyst Žarko Galetin told RTS. He points out that most of that money will be spent on wheat, which we will sow on about 600,000 hectares, which is 50,000 more than last year.

The Government of Serbia adopted the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Incentives in Agriculture.

Based on the agreement of six agricultural associations and the relevant ministry, producers will receive another 10,000 dinars on top of 18,000 dinars per hectare, which they do not have to justify with invoices.

“This measure is the product of a compromise and will help farmers to mitigate the problems caused by the drought during the autumn sowing,” agro-economist Žarko Galetin told RTS.

According to him, despite the low purchase price of wheat, the area under wheat will grow from 550 to 600,000 hectares.

“Direct payments of 28,000 dinars per hectare will improve the financial condition of farmers,” says Galetin.

What will be the manufacturer’s response

He notes that both the paori and the relevant ministry are satisfied with the agreement reached on the increase of direct benefits, which will be paid in 30 days at the latest.

Galetin also believes that the money will contribute to repairing the damage caused by the drought.

“I expect that wheat will be sown on larger areas this year. This will be the producer’s response to the situation in this economic year, where we had exceptional failures in the so-called fallow crops: corn, soybeans, sunflowers and sugar beets. In the last 10 years, wheat had the highest yield per hectare of 5.3 tons per hectare. The practice is that farmers will mostly sow the crop that brought them the best crop in the previous year,” says Galetin.

He points out that the price of wheat will rise, although it is currently very low and amounts to 23 dinars, because it will be affected by the uncertainty due to the war in the Middle East.

He adds that the increase in direct payments in agriculture is not a long-term solution, but that they are currently necessary due to the drought as well as the fact that the government was late in passing the regulation on incentives.

Source: RTS