SDSM attacks the Government: “Farmers pay more and get nothing, Mickoski thinks about data centers and antimony”

The Macedonian opposition party SDSM harshly attacked the Government today over the situation in agriculture, following the publication of the latest figures from the State Statistical Office. In August, agricultural production costs rose by 6.8 percent, while producer prices fell by 2.2 percent — a combination that, according to the opposition, is tightening the noose around farmers.

According to the data, fuel and energy costs rose by 15.8 percent, machinery costs by 13.4 percent and transport equipment by 19.6 percent. At the same time, vegetable prices fell by 6.4 percent, fruit and grape prices by 7.2 percent, and animal-origin products by 7.7 percent.

“The field got more expensive. The purchase got cheaper. Food in stores didn’t fall like in the field — it rose. The chain eats the difference. The farmer pays double,” SDSM’s reaction reads. The party recalls that its leader Venko Filipče had warned months earlier about the consequences of wrong policies and about the cut of subsidies by around 40 million euros: the advance payment has been abolished, green diesel is being delayed, while the threshold for aid is rising.

SDSM accuses Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski of “thinking about data centers and antimony” while farmers face humiliating purchase prices: peppers and grapes are bought for nothing, while cabbage fell from 25–30 denars to 6–8 denars. “The Government has 5.53 million for ghettos and 1.6-million businesses to split the opposition, a plane for Mickoski’s feet, a data center and antimony for provisions. But for the one who feeds the state — they have nothing: only statistics and silence,” the statement reads.

The opposition demands regular subsidies, advance payments, green diesel on time, fair purchase prices and aid that reaches farmers on time — including the small one, not only the big buyer. Without these measures, SDSM warns, “this autumn there will be neither harvest nor sowing, but the gang’s settling of accounts on the back of the one who produces food.”

Source: Skopje1