Only one fifth of wheat sown – Reduced subsidies impact autumn sowing

The sowing of wheat in Serbia is already late – it has been sown on merely 20% of the area, even though the area sown last year was three times larger. Farmers say that this is only one of the consequences of the drastically reduced state subsidies for plant production in 2016. The late harvesting of corn, so that it would dry as little as possible, has as its consequence the fact that the sowing of wheat might last until December, even though, under ideal conditions, it should be completed in a few days.

– The lack of subsidies is reflected in reduced sowing – says Miroslav Ivkovic, a farmer from Novi Zednik.

– When they're receiving such incentives, farmers find the market price acceptable. People are now postponing the autumn sowing in hope that something might change. Some of them sow the seeds they've produced, instead of buying wheat seeds. This shows immediately that the yields will be lower and the quality poorer.

As Ivkovic says, Croatia gives its farmers EUR 370, and Hungary gives as much as EUR 400. Starting with 2016, plant producers in Serbia receive only RSD 2,000 per hectare of land and as much per hectare for the fertilizer.

According to Vukosav Sakovic, president of the Fund for Cereals, the sowing has been postponed and extended by mid-December for years.

– Wheat is mostly sown on fields formerly under corn, and farmers postpone the harvesting of corn in order for it to dry in the fields. This in turns causes the wheat to be sown late – Sakovic explains.

– It always ends with wheat being sown on close to 600,000 hectares.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Jugoslovenski fond za žita a.d. Beograd

wheat

sowing of wheat

subsidies for plant production

corn

Miroslav Ivkovic

Vukosav Sakovic