After a meeting of government members and Croatian employers in Zagreb on Monday, Minister Cobankovic said that conditions for business in the agricultural sector were now favourable and he saw no reasons for protests which farmers staged earlier in the day.
He added that only 70 protesters had rallied at three locations.
At the beginning of today's protest, some farmers with about 30 tractors and other farming machines gathered at a road intersection in Ferovac, Pozega-Slavonia County.
According to the president of the coordinating body of farmers' associations, Dragutin Dukic, only farmers from Pozega-Slavonia County are taking part in the protest, as it was agreed with other county associations that they would gradually join the protest in their counties.
Dukic said the protest was supported by the trade union of farmers' associations, adding that protests in Osijek-Baranja County would start on Wednesday.
"We will not give up on our requests and we will stay in the roads until our demands are met," Dukic stressed, adding that soon over a thousand tractors and protesters would be on the roads.
Among other things, farmers demand cheeper diesel fuel, the legalisation of farms at no cost, interest rates of a maximum four per cent, the payment of capital investments for 2008 and 2009.
Farmers also ask that Croatia draw up as soon as possible an agricultural development strategy with an emphasis on domestic production.