Commenting on milk farmers' protests, Agriculture Minister Tihomir Jakovina told reporters in the eastern town of Slavonski Brod on Tuesday that the ministry had, in a very responsible fashion, sent a message that it would fulfil all of its obligations under the law on state subsidies in the farming sector from 2011.
He added that the ministry would try to have a lion's share of the subsidies paid out at the end of the first quarter, so as to enable farmers to prepare well for the spring sowing.
Jakovina voiced confidence the reforms that were being drafted would turn around the negative trends in the Croatian farming sector of the past 15 years.
We have made it clear that milk farmers can no longer count on state subsidies amounting to HRK 0.42 per litre because the state is not allowed to intervene on the market, Jakovina said. He recalled, however, that farmers were receiving other significant incentives from the state.
The minister stressed the Council for the Dairy Industry would continue to meet twice a month to monitor the milk price and resolve other important issues, such as the legalisation of unlawfully built farming facilities, announcing a new law that would accelerate that process and make it cheaper.
