September to see discussion on new law on agricultural land

(Photo: Milica Stevuljević)

In early September, the Ministry of agriculture should start public discussion on a draft of the law on agricultural law, the ministry said for RTV Vojvodina. Early 2015 latest should see adoption of the new law which will additionally govern state-owned land renting area.

As it was said, the objective of the Ministry of agriculture as a petitioner of the new law is additional legal protection of state-owned agricultural land so that, among other things, rent income would increase.

Petitioners announce a line of changes referring to enlargement, way of usage and public tender procedure for state-owned land rent.

- First of all, a few things with respect to agricultural land protection. We want to secure better protection and provide more secure legal way to protect it. Since there is a huge loss when it comes to that agricultural land and areas literally decrease, on the other hand we have big degradation and a number of new changes - Zoran Knezevic says.

On the other hand, Goran Zivkov, former minister of agriculture and one of the authors of the effective law says that potential concessions implementation as a form of state-owned land rent would privilege big companies damaging small and medium-sized agricultural farms.

- Wherever agriculture is successful, it is based on family farm. Therefore, according to the law on land, family farms have advantage to rent. If concession is implemented, it is difficult they will have advantage when renting. Then a question of your good relations pops up and then the state, not local self-governance, decides who a concessioner is –he says.

We would like to remind that at this moment, some 10.000 farmers cultivate some 300.000 ha of state-owned land. Some EUR 60 mil was generated for the budget of Serbia from rent only last year.