President of the Association farmers "Stig" Nedeljko Savić assessed that the representatives of the state did not offer solutions to the problems faced by producers before the autumn sowing, especially when it comes to the high prices of raw materials and energy.
He said this to the Beta agency after a meeting in To the Government of Serbia, which lasted more than three hours.
Savić stated that the representatives of the Government did not recognize the scale of the problem, from the low purchase prices of agricultural products and milk to the sudden increase in production costs.
As an example, he cited mineral fertilizer, the price of which has increased from 62 to 80 dinars per kilogram, with the question of which income farmers should use to finance the upcoming sowing.
As an additional problem, he highlighted the purchase price of sunflowers, which last year was 62 dinars per kilogram, while oil mills now offer 44 dinars.
According to him, the farmers were expecting the state to find a way for the purchasers to immediately offer the final price when taking over the goods, so that the producers could plan the next production. Instead, as he stated, they often offer only an initial down payment, and determine the final price afterwards.
Savić added that the Government did not even offer measures that would oblige buyers to immediately determine the final price of the product. According to him, the only prime minister in the technical mandate, Đuro Macut, proposed the formation of a chamber of farmers that would deal with solving these problems.
Milk production left to the market
The owner of the cow farm, Dejan Trajković, said that the Minister of Agriculture, Dragan Glamočić, announced at the meeting that the European Commission rejected Serbia's request to introduce a levy on the import of milk from the EU, which producers requested at the beginning of the year. According to Trajković, there has been no official notification of that decision until now.
Trajković also stated that Glamočić said that milk production is left to the market and that producers, if such production does not suit them, should change it. He summed up this attitude by saying that farmers should work more and more, while at the same time they will earn less and less.
Both Trajković and Savić will convey the content of the meeting to other farmers, after which it will be decided whether protests will be organized, especially considering that parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 25.
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