PSD asks Govt bigger subventions for farmers

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) asks the Government to take urgent measures and help the peasants to start field works in spring. PSD leader Dumitru Braghis told a news conference Thursday the issue bears no delay till after the elections. Otherwise, the 2009 agricultural year may be compromised, Info-Prim Neo reports. The PSD asks the government to buy all the peasants' reserves of cereals within 15-20 days, and, within 30-40 days, to sign contracts for the 2009 harvest, so that the farmers should know how they will be supported in 2009. Braghis has proposed the government to give 1,500 lei to every citizen renting at least 1 ha of land. Now the government gives but 490 lei per hectare. He says there should be a legal mechanism to regulate leasing land. Braghis said the Parliament should convene in an extraordinary sitting to re-orient the money earmarked for agriculture. He says it's not reasonable to allocate money for projects, it must be directly granted to farmers. Referring to the Government's intention to buy 40,000 tonnes of grain to fill the state reserve, Dumitru Braghis has said it's actually “a swap, not an investment.” The farmers have much more wheat in store than those 40,000 tonnes, he said.