Before commencing to discuss the items on the agenda, Committee Chairman Marijan Risticevic asked the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection to submit the Activity Report for the second quarter of 2016, which the Committee would discuss at one of its coming sittings.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Zoran Rajic informed the Committee about the yield prognosis for the crops expected to be harvested in September. He said that, according to the Republic Statistical Office, by 30 June over a million hectares of corn have been planted, 202,000 ha of sunflower, 185,756 ha of soy and 49,301 ha of sugar beet. The favourable climatic conditions will allow for a 6 million ton yield of corn and half a million ton of sunflower, added Rajic. The public storage register has only one licensed entity with an 11,000 ton storage capacity, whose licence is scheduled to expire by the end of the month, while two more legal entities, with 4,500 and 11,000 ton storage capacities respectively, are in the process of being licenced. The Ministry will continue to reimburse up to 40% of product storage, and inspections have ascertained that only a fifth of store keepers in Serbia can classify goods according to quality, said Rajic. The conditions the silos are in is a big problem for storage and classification of goods according to quality, the repair of which, according to calculations done by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, is about 300,000 USD per silo, and an increased export could reclaim that investment in about a year and a half, stated Rajic.
In the ensuing debate, the officials discussed how to resolve the problem of harvest in undeveloped areas caused by antiquated mechanisation, the low buyout price of wheat, focus on fire protection, with the suggestion to local self-governments to set up HQs to monitor next year’s harvest. They also spoke about earmarking funds and planning for the engagement of scientific institutes to monitor price policy, about the quality of herbicides and pesticides used in crop production, dissatisfaction of agricultural producers with the level of subsidies, especially the abolition of diesel fuel subsidies, and the problem of wheat processing into flour and its being put on the market outside of VAT trends and system. They suggested dedicating a whole sitting to a discussion on fire prevention in crop fields and forests. The Veterinary Directorate was appealed to change the system/register of big cattle because of sale and registering problems. They also discussed the Ministry’s crediting and placement of more than 3 billion RSD into agriculture and the 2,294 requests submitted by agricultural producers, which is an increase of 17% compared to last year. They also said that the placement structure and regional spread of requests has changed so now about 1,000 requests come from agricultural producers from central Serbia.
The officials also discussed crop yield and the quality of wheat which is very good this year. For national consumption, 1.3 million tons are needed for the baking industry, 200,000 tons for cattle feed, 200,000 tons for reserves, leaving 1.4 million tons of wheat free for export. Concerning the price, the problem remains the same as every year therefore it is imperative to pass a new Rulebook on buyout based on quality, they concluded. According to the data of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce on foreign trade, in the first five months of the year it amounted to 659.5 million USD and has a surfeit and increase of 23.7% compared to last year. Corn tops the chart with 140 million EUR, followed by cigarettes (110 million EUR), raspberries (102 million EUR), apples (58 million EUR), wheat (54.5 million EUR), etc., with bananas being the biggest import (23.5 million EUR), followed by coffee (21 million EUR), tobacco and corn (18 million EUR each), apples (17 million EUR), pork (11 million EUR) and other products (10 million EUR).
The Committee also discussed trade records and crediting of agricultural producers, storage criteria adjusted to the needs of small producers with the aim of breaking monopolies, they also spoke about securing funds for an intervention buyout of agricultural products, increase of subsidies, measures to boost the cattle fund and restoring agricultural mechanisation.
Following the discussion the Committee adopted a Conclusion.
The Committee members were then presented the conclusion proposals from the sitting of the Subcommittee for Monitoring the Agricultural Situation in the Marginal - Most Undeveloped Areas in the Republic of Serbia.
Nenad Budimirovic, representative of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and Jovica Jaksic and Ivan Vuckovic, representatives of the Independent Association of Agriculturalists of Serbia, also took part in the debate.

The sitting was attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Radovan Jancic, Prof. Dr Miladin Sevarlic, Veroljub Matic, Jasmina Obradovic, Dr Ljubinko Rakonjac, Olena Papuga, Milija Miletic, Nenad Bozic, Velimir Stanojevic, Tijana Davidovac, Zarko Bogatinovic, Marko Gavrilovic, Zoltan Pek, Dusan Petrovic and MA Marko Milenkovic.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Marijan Risticevic.