MINISTER ANNOUNCES REFORMS IN SYSTEM OF FOOD PRODUCTION INCENTIVES

KRIZEVCI, Aug 24 (Hina) - This autumn the Ministry of Agriculture will submit to the government a draft on reforms in the system of farming incentives in Croatia, which are aimed at stimulating serious and competitive food production the way it is stimulated in other countries and in line with the requests of the World Trade Organisation and the European Union, Agriculture Minister Bozidar Pankretic said in Krizevci on Friday. In the future the state will grant loans and provide incentives only for market-oriented producers. As regards the other, non- commercial category of producers, the ministry intends to suggest national pensions for farmers over the age of 70. "These reforms in the sector of farming will certainly be painful as are all other measures promoted by the Agriculture Ministry, but they will yield results as is the case with the changed model of the purchase of wheat, which will no longer be purchased and stored by the state but by the producers," Pankretic said. The new wheat purchase model has helped the state save DM 100 million this year alone, he added. Pankretic also announced new credit lines for stimulating the breeding of heifer calves and heifers with calf so that the country, which has quality cows, could avoid imports. (hina) sb rml