Seed subsidy of 17,000 dinars per hectare: no payout date
The Agrarian Payments Directorate and the Agriculture Ministry have no payment deadline for farmers in Subotica, and sowing deadlines run out in two to three weeks.
Farmers in Subotica asked when the state will pay the seed subsidy of 17,000 dinars (about 145 euros) per hectare, and got no date. The Agrarian Payments Directorate and the Agriculture Ministry both replied to a freedom of information request that they do not have one, while the optimal and non-optimal deadlines for autumn sowing run out two to three weeks from October 21.
Who asked, and who answered?
The request was filed on behalf of farmers by Srdjan Boros Djevi. He sent it to the Agriculture Ministry, which passed it to the Agrarian Payments Directorate, and the Directorate in turn sought an answer from the Sector for Agricultural Policy, “the narrower part of the Ministry,” meaning outside the administrative bodies. The reply arrived within the legal deadline of 15 days.
In its reply, the Ministry’s Sector for Agricultural Policy stated:
“At present there is still no document that could give the applicant an answer on when that subsidy will be paid.”
The reply does not refuse the payment, but it does not name a month in which the money could arrive either.
What is known about the public call?
The Ministry says the “public call for the second installment of basic incentives for crop production, in line with the Plan of Public Calls, is scheduled for the period September-November.” The farmers asked about the 17,000 dinar per hectare subsidy, and the reply does not tie that sum explicitly to the second installment, so the link between the two is an inference, not a fact from the document.
The Agrarian Payments Directorate said it will publish the public call in accordance with the Rulebook on the Manner of Exercising the Right to Basic Incentives in Crop Production, “when the appropriate conditions are met.” The reply does not say what those conditions are or when they will be fulfilled.
The Directorate gave the same September to November period earlier. We wrote about its answer to a Subotica farmers’ association on October 15, when that too ended without a date or an amount. Now there is also a written answer to the question about the specific seed subsidy.
Agriculture Minister Dragan Glamocic said recently that the Ministry will stick to the calendar of public calls. He also announced a change to the incentive measures, so that “those who work more get more.”
How much has been sown, and what about the storm damage?
According to reports by Beta and N1, it is already visible that far less has been sown this autumn than last year, because of weather conditions and a lack of money. No exact figure was given, and the real picture will be known only after the sowing deadlines expire.
Boros Djevi also wrote to the local authorities in Subotica. In June a storm with hail damaged crops in Tavankut, Zednik, Cantavir, Misicevo, Bajmok and Djurdjin, so he asked whether the Emergency Management Staff had been convened, whether the damage had been assessed and whether a natural disaster had been declared, which would let those affected seek compensation.
The local authorities’ reply shows that a commission assessed the damage at 7,800 hectares. The Emergency Management Staff was not convened, and a natural disaster was not declared. The damage is estimated at about 9 million euros, which is more than 10% of the city budget.
