CRO AGRICULTURE MINISTER REPORTS ON AGRICULTURE SITUATION

ZAGREB, Oct 23 (Hina) - The measures that the Government will suggest - increase of stimulation, initiative, and premiums for the next year - are Croatia's guarantee that it could be a large food exporter. These measures, would also solve family economic problems, said the Croatian Agriculture and Forestry Minister Zlatko Dominikovic in a discussion on the agricultural sector, at the Croatian National Sabor's (parliament) House of Representatives session on Friday. We are not satisfied with the agricultural situation, however we are satisfied with what has been done recently, Dominikovic added. The increase acreage for sugar beet and oil crops, the increase of milk production - 47 percent compared to 1996 - free vaccination, as well as loans for 19,000 livestock farms. About 15 agricultural companies have been sanified and 10,000 jobs had been saved. This year US$128 million have been insured from the state budget for the agricultural sector. The negative trade balance is US$128 million less than it was last year. Meat imports decreased by 25 percent for the same period. Dominikovic considered the greatest problem in the agricultural sector was the "inherited" system, disordered cadastral and land books, and food processing plants damaged during the war. During the Serbian aggression 400,000 heads of cattle vanished. There are 550,000 households which need 13,000 tractors, as more than 18,000 tractors were destroyed in the war. Tractors presently being used are on average, 15 years old. The Sabor's farming and economic committees suggested that the Government's report, prepared at the initiative of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, and the report prepared by the Croatian Peasants' Party, be submitted for information purposes. The farming committee demanded that an analysis of the earning- capacity of households be submitted to the Sabor within three months. (hina) it/sp