At the sitting held on 5 November, the Agriculture Committee considered the dairy farming problems as well as the demands of the Association of Dairy Producers of Serbia and Central Association of Dairy Producers of Vojvodina. The sitting was chaired by Prof. Dr Zoran Masic, Committee Chairman.

Ljubisa Jovanovic, President of the Association of Dairy Producers of Serbia, presented a document titled the White Initiative containing a proposal of measures to improve dairy production. The document requests that the Government secure a budgetary support for the Ministry of Agriculture amounting to 7% of the total budget, as it did until 2006, and which is the practice in other countries, 5 RSD per liter of milk subsidies for all the milk delivered and all the producers, as well as pay the premiums depending on the quality of milk. The milk production premiums and subsidies should have a developmental and corrective function and increase the competitiveness of domestic producers. In addition, the Association proposed measures to stimulate agricultural production, among them a higher reimbursement per head of cattle.

Sanja Bugarski, representative of the Central Association of Dairy Producers of Vojvodina, proposed that cattle farmers be allowed the use of state owned land without fee.

Milos Milovanovic, representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that he expected the Ministry would gain an additional 1.2 billion RSD by this year’s budget rebalance which would equate the companies and farmers as regards milk premiums. He announced the creation of task groups to deal with the systemic issue of agrarian production in Serbia and propose a law on the stimulation of stable and long-term cattle farming production and dairy production within it. He stressed that the Constitutional Court Decision confirmed the monopoly position of Salford company on the dairy market in Serbia which confirms the fact that the state is protecting the farmers.

The Committee members highlighted the overall poor cattle farming conditions and endorsed the dairy producers’ associations’ proposals. They endorsed the idea that next year’s budgetary allocations for the agrarian production be 5 to 7% of the total budget, as well as equal treatment for legal and physical entities.