Farmers Announce Protests Starting May 16

Farmers continued to protest in Serbia (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

After talks with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic yielded no agreement, Serbian farmers have announced protests in multiple cities starting May 16.

Nedeljko Savic, the president of the Stig Farmers’ Association from Pozarevac, told N1 that none of the farmers’ demands have been met, forcing them to stage protests that will draw attention to their problems.

In an earlier statement for BETA, Djoka Curcic, the leader of the Initiative for the Survival of Serbia’s Farmers, said that the joint demands of several farmers’ associations include a guaranteed producer price of 75 dinars per liter of milk, excluding VAT. “We are asking for a 300-euro subsidy per hectare of land, a waiver of the excise and VAT on diesel fuel, and a 40,000-dinar subsidy per cow,” Curcic explained. He added that local farmers expect the state to ensure producer prices for wheat, corn, soy and other crops on par with the stock markets prices in Budapest and Paris.

According to him, should all their requests not be fulfilled, protest rallies will be held on May 16 in Kragujevac, Krusevac, Novi Sad, Pancevo, Subotica, Centa, Kovin, Bogatic and several other towns and cities.