Minister Grabar-Kitarovic, who described the meeting as constructive, said its purpose was to reach agreement on cooperation with farmers' representatives in the screening process and adjustment of Croatia's economy during the process of association with the European bloc.
She said that the European Integration Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry had carried out an opinion poll among farmers asking them what they were interested in and what they feared of regarding European integration processes. Results of the survey will be known in the coming days.
The minister added that on 6 October the European Commission would made public a pre-accession strategy for Croatia with plans for the use of pre-accession programmes, including the Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development or SAPARD.
Farmers Association (HSS) chief Darko Grivicic said that it was the European Integration Ministry which should inform farmers what they could expect of admission to the EU, and this was the main reason for today's meeting.
It is important to invest joint efforts so as to prepare family farms for this process, he added.
According to the national registry, there are 140,000 family farms in Croatia, and Grivicic believes that between 50,000 and 60,000 more family farms are not entered into the registry.
The Farmers Association announced a protest rally for Wednesday which it will hold in front of the main offices of the Agriculture Ministry.
The farmers will protest against the farming policy of the government and the relevant ministry.
Grivicic said the alliance was dissatisfied as it still had not managed to establish any contact with Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic.