HSS leader Darko Grivicic said they were staging the rally in front of the ministry's building in Zagreb as they believed that Minister Petar Cobankovic would find enough time to meet representatives of 200,000 family farms.
During the protest, Grivicic talked with Cobankovic on the phone and the latter said he had no time today for the meeting because the government was in session. The two agreed to meet next Wednesday.
One of the demands of the protestors is the timely payment of farm subsidies.
The agriculture minister, who believes that the protest was unjustified, reiterated that the payment was late only in those counties which had failed to process data on beneficiaries on time.