The partial payment of incentives in the form of intermediary products worth 500 kuna per hectare, which is an additional 22 per cent on the 60 per cent of incentives that will be paid in cash, is the maximum which Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic offered representatives of farmers' associations at Friday's meeting.
"That's the maximum of the maximum. We can't go above that, because everything else would endanger the budget and the state, which the government won't allow. We can't go above that, despite the (farmers') protests," said Cobankovic.
Speaking of what else could be done, he mentioned exemption from paying the leasing of state-owned farmland for this year and deferring the payment of land purchase by one year.
Cobankovic said the presidents of the coordinating body of protesters had turned down the invitation to attend today's meeting.
Cobankovic said the government would adopt a decision next week to exempt farmers from paying the lease of state-owned land for this year, which amounts to some HRK 220 million, and to prolong the payment of land purchase by one year.
The minister reiterated that the government owed nothing for incentives for 2008, and said the new decision could in some way annul the HRK 205 million which farmers claimed the government owed them.
Rules on fees for the lease and sale of farmland will be changed, and decisions will be made on supporting capital investment until the end of July for all beneficiaries, which most banks are willing to accept so that financial problems could be resolved.
The rescheduling of loans at the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development will be dealt with by each producer individually. Compensation for the storing of last year's wheat will be paid at 0.10 kuna per kilogram.
Representatives of farmers' associations that attended the meeting were mainly satisfied with the minister's proposals, but said they would take a position after informing the associations' members.
Commenting on recent farmers' protests, former President Stjepan Mesic said they showed that Croatia did not have the right strategy to develop the economy, notably agriculture.
He was speaking at the opening of the 17th Spring Agriculture and Food Fair in Osijek, eastern Croatia.
He called on the government and all its institutions to resolve that issue as soon as possible and to use the right strategy so that Croatia could join the European Union as competitive as possible.
Asked by reporters if he supported the demands of the protesting farmers, Mesic said the issue "must be resolved through talks and arguments".
