Farmers draw the line and demand a BUDGET of 170 billion dinars!

At the recently held public debate in the Ministry of Agriculture, all areas of agricultural production were discussed, and a significant number of farmers participated in the debate.

Representatives of the “National Association of Serbian Farmers” stated the following:

“The last two years we worked with losses and they were the worst for us farmers in the last decade, and we constantly negotiated to make it better for us – we are getting worse.

What happened?

1. The prices of our products are 100 euros per ton lower than on futures.
2. The price of seed goods is disproportionately high, compared to the period when RSD 17,000 was promised for seeds.
3. Subsidies are received by those who do not cultivate the land, but rent it out – fictitiously registered PG.
4. The price of renting agricultural land was raised, after subsidies of 300 euros per hectare were promised.
5. Subsidies should be received exclusively by PGs that work the land. It is necessary to condition the holders of PG to pay the PIO fund of farmers and to keep a book of fields and crop rotation, thus proving that they cultivate the land and that PG should receive subsidies of 35,000 dinars/ha, not fictitious PG that are registered to receive subsidies and give the land in lease.
6. Provide funds to subsidize interest for loans
7. Insurance of crops and fruits, raising the refund limit from 100,000 to 300,000 RSD
8. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to increase the budget for agriculture from the current 5% to 10% of the total budget of the Republic of Serbia. This year, through rebalancing, increase it to 170 billion.
9. The average amount of subsidies and incentives and the areas on which we receive them will be the same upon joining the EU, so we will initially be unequal compared to other farmers.
10. When the farmers get 35,000 per hectare, everyone else should also get it, since the herdsman also cultivates the land. Livestock breeders in Serbia have one of the biggest incentives in Europe and this has not increased the livestock fund so far, so we need to find another model for livestock farming.