Farmers ask authorities to revise decisions on agricultural subsidies

The associations of agricultural producers express their concern about the reduction of about 40% in the agriculture subsidization fund during the last two years. They say that if the Government does not revise its decisions on agricultural subsidies, they will not take part in the annual exhibition “Farmer” in protest, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The price of diesel fuel has increased by about 59% in 2007-2011, while the prices of agricultural products fell or remained at the same level. Thus, the producers do not manage to recoup the investments, not speaking about making profit. The subsidies offered by the state help cultivate the land and prevent the farmers from going bankrupt,” the head of the National Federation of Agricultural Producers “AGROinform” Aurelia Bondari told a news conference. According to the chairman of the National Farmers Federation Vasile Mirzenco, the farmers do not beg subsidies from the state, but want the authorities to provide money as investments so as to stimulate the agricultural producers. “We today invest 1 leu so that we later make 1.5 or 2 lei. Both the state and the producers will earn money, especially from the export of agricultural products,” he said. Nicolai Morari, chairman of the Association of Sugar Beet Producers, said the situation this year is similar to that of 2009, when the farmers were seriously affected by drought. “The producers sustain losses. If a person spent 14,000 lei on cultivating a hectare of sugar beet and earns only 5,000 lei, the next year this person will not cultivate sugar beet. If they are not subsidized by the state, they cannot recover even the costs,” he stated. A sum of 250 million lei will be allocated from the budget next year for subsidizing the farmers.