The farmers that benefitted from subsidies of over 6 million lei during the last three years should not be allowed to get new subsidies from the state. Such a proposal was submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture for the subsidization regulations for this year, IPN reports.

The Agency’s director Petru Maleru told a news conference that this proposal will be discussed with representatives of farmers so as to see their opinion. This provision will enable an increased number of small and medium-sized producers to have access to the state subsidization funds.

Minister of Agriculture Ion Sula said they want to increase the subsidization fund as the farmers asked, but a fund larger than 610 million lei is not possible now.

The official also said that the regulations concerning the provision of agricultural subsidies will be approved in a week. He called on the representatives of the farmers to submit proposals as to how to implement the mechanism for distributing subsidies.

The farmers announced that they will stage a protest on April 15 and will block the national roads for an hour in protest at the fact that the agriculture subsidization fund remained at the level of 610 million lei, while the VAT on some agricultural products was raised from 8 to 20%.