“State to prop up agriculture sector with EUR 150mn”

BELGRADE Serbian Agriculture Minister Goran Knezevic has said that newly taken measures, worth EUR 150mn, are the state's biggest aid to agriculture sector in 25 years. “Serbia has begun to seriously, sincerely and systematically aid its agriculture sector. Vital measures to mitigate the consequences of the drought have been adopted, and we expect legislation on subsidies for agriculture to be ready by the end of the year,” he told Belgrade-based daily Vecernje novosti. “State to prop up agriculture sector with EUR 150mn” “We have increased direct subsidies to farmers, exempted them from paying certain taxes, prolonged deadlines for payments of loans that they had taken, intervened in the market by buying scarce goods,” said Knezevic. “After the adoption of the new measures for cutting the price of sugar and promoting livestock production, the state will no longer be helping farmers by decrees and 'ad hoc' measures, but rather by systemic regulations and a sound strategy that will be put into practice,” he was quoted as saying. “The agricultural budget will be getting bigger from year to year,” Knezevic said, adding that he was confident it would improve the business climate, which should make farmers feel safer in terms of investment and begin a new investment cycle with more cash involved. He announced introduction of several bills to amend laws that had shown many deficiencies in implementation, pointing out that the government could not fight against international trends, but could well deal with monopoly and speculations in the food sector and would do that by all means available. Goran Knezevic (Tanjug) Tanjug Vecernje novosti

“State to prop up agriculture sector with EUR 150mn”

“We have increased direct subsidies to farmers, exempted them from paying certain taxes, prolonged deadlines for payments of loans that they had taken, intervened in the market by buying scarce goods,” said Knežević.

“After the adoption of the new measures for cutting the price of sugar and promoting livestock production, the state will no longer be helping farmers by decrees and 'ad hoc' measures, but rather by systemic regulations and a sound strategy that will be put into practice,” he was quoted as saying.

“The agricultural budget will be getting bigger from year to year,” Knežević said, adding that he was confident it would improve the business climate, which should make farmers feel safer in terms of investment and begin a new investment cycle with more cash involved.

He announced introduction of several bills to amend laws that had shown many deficiencies in implementation, pointing out that the government could not fight against international trends, but could well deal with monopoly and speculations in the food sector and would do that by all means available.