PM says gov’t wants to boost food production and employment in Croatia’s rural areas

ZAGREB, April 29 (Hina) – Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in Osijek on Tuesday that the government had adopted a series of quality measures and laws to help the agricultural sector, stressing that the objective is to boost the production of quality food, achieve a decent life and increase employment in rural areas.

“In this term in office, we have adopted a string of quality legal solutions, we had a significant budget framework for agriculture, we have implemented quality measures and incentives for farmers, we have absorbed European funds in the context of a debate on a new joint budgetary policy, also as a country that is presiding over the European Union,” Plenkovic said after a meeting held at the Osijek Faculty of Agriculture on the topic of farming activities.

The meeting with members of the local government, the academic community and business people was used to exchange opinions about what the government was doing to help the farming sector.

Gov’t wants National Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy to be completed as soon as possible

The government wants to have the National Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy completed as soon as possible, Plenkovic said.

The future strategy should be conducive to the accomplishment of the four goals: enhancing the productivity and making the agricultural production resilient to climate change, boosting the competitiveness of the national agricultural and food-producing system, revitalising the economy and improving the living conditions in rural areas, and encouraging innovations in the farm sector.

Plenkovic said the academic community and experts must play a special role in that.

Aside from Plenkovic, Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic and Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Marko Pavic, the working meeting in Osijek was also attended by executives of companies whose core business is farming production, representatives of the local university, officials of the City of Osijek, The Osijek Agriculture Institute, associations of pig farmers, cattle breeders, fruit growers and other stakeholders in the farm sector and food production.

County Prefect Ivan Anusic thanked the government for the support of projects implemented by Osijek Baranja County and Slavonia.