The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Jelena Tanasković, announced today to the representatives of farmers that 95 percent of the subsidies have been paid so far and explained that all proper and complete requests have been paid, and that not only the requests that are currently being supplemented have been paid, but that they will also be quickly resolved.
At a meeting with representatives of seven associations of agricultural producers in the Government of Serbia, with whom the Mutual Cooperation Agreement was signed in May, she said that all points of the agreement that were planned for this year have been fulfilled so far, according to the Ministry's website.
This refers to the increase of basic incentives for plant production from 9.000 dinars to 18.000 dinars, premium for milk from 15 dinars to 19 dinars per liter of milk, incentives for quality breeding dairy cows from 30.000 dinars to 40.000 dinars per head.
From January 1, 2024, as agreed, the maximum limit of the area of arable agricultural land from 20 hectares, prescribed for exercising the right to basic incentives for crop production, will be raised to 100 hectares, 50 percent of drainage fees for the current year will be reduced and the drainage fee will be abolished completely from January 1, 2024, the Ministry stated.
Among the additional measures to support farmers, there is also a rebate, i.e. a refund for excise duties on fuel in the amount of 50 dinars per liter, which will be valid from 2024.
At the meeting, certain initiatives of farmers were acknowledged, such as the one related to clearly defining who are the beneficiaries of the benefit per hectare, and it was agreed that these will only be farmers who cultivate the land, and not the owners of the land who do not cultivate it.
Representatives of agricultural associations said in May 2023 that the Government of Serbia asked them to never go out to protests again, and they emphasized that they could have gotten what they got now two weeks earlier, but then they were forced to go out on the streets again.
MJ/FoNet
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