ZAGREB, 2 Feb 2022 - The agriculture ministry has prepared two programmes to alleviate the impact of growing costs on farms and fisheries.

The aid scheme for mitigating costs during the spring sowing season is worth HRK 80 million, while the aid scheme for fishermen and livestock farmers is worth HRK 50 million.

The draft aid schemes will be forwarded in the coming days to the European Commission to give its consent and comments, the ministry reported on Wednesday.

Apart from these two packages, the ministry is also seeking a way to help cattle breeders who have not been entitled to the support under the previous HRK 170 million scheme aid.

The livestock breeders who met the conditions under this programme have received aid in December and January, the ministry said.

(€1 = HRK 7.524059)

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ZAGREB, 26 Nov 2021 - Digitalisation is the key to increasing productivity in agriculture and the driver of developing domestic production, an analysis by the Smarter consulting company said on Friday, noting that digital technology can help farmers to work more precisely, efficiently and sustainably and increase productivity.

"In Croatia, less than 10% of farmers use digital systems to manage production. In developed countries that share is far higher - almost 40%...and about 30% use information technology and keep their records using digital tools," Smarter said in the analysis.

It recalled that in addition to EU funds, Croatia has the opportunity to invest in digitalisation through the NextGeneration EU instrument and the National Recovery and Resilience Programme, which has ensured about HRK 77 million for digital transformation in agriculture.

Of that amount, HRK 14 million is earmarked for the establishment of digital public services, HRK 50 million for smart agriculture and HRK 13 million for traceability, which can significantly contribute to the wider use of digital technology in agriculture.

Digitalisation can help Croatian producers to improve decision-making and increase ecological efficiency, which is a must based on the EU green deal.

Smarter recalled that the COVID pandemic has impacted the application of new technological solutions and a large number of farmers organised their own digital platforms to promote and sell their products. This, however, is insufficient as users do not have sufficient experience in using digital tools.

In Croatia, digitalisation is present in large companies and among young people who are continually introducing new technology and are achieving European results in yields and productivity. However, in Croatia, most farmers are older and are poorly educated and IT literate.

The best solution would be for all agricultural producers, regardless of their size, to use a national IT platform that would ensure the introduction of digital management of production that would be open to every farmer in addition to the existing commercial systems.

Such a platform would also enable the ministry to have insight into and plan and monitor production, while producers would be provided with the best practices in their sector.

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June 25th, 2021 - Croatia does not have the right to ignore the fact that its farms are old, that someone has to stay living there, and that it requires agriculture investments to catch up to developed countries, Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković said at a regional workshop on Friday.

This was the first regional workshop on the "Strategic Plan for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) 2023-2028," intended for local and regional government representatives and experts.

Vučković said that interested beneficiaries could be informed of the challenges of the future CAP and the basic elements of the future national strategic plan.

She recalled that the agriculture strategy to 2030 had been completed, as has a study on the strategy's impact on the environment. The strategy has four objectives - increasing the productivity of agricultural production and its resilience to climate change, strengthening the competitiveness of the agriculture-food sector, reviving rural areas, and stimulating innovations.

On the other hand, the National Strategy Plan is being prepared according to future EU regulations and incorporates matters that the strategy doesn't.

"We are opening important and challenging issues related to the financial allocation, about certain definitions that didn't exist before, for example, what is a real or active farmer... The challenges ahead also mean satisfying climate and ecological ambitions concerning investment in new technology," said Vučković. 

Commenting on the challenges in agriculture in the coming period, Vučković underscored that each country in the EU has its specificities.

" Agriculture, in fact, is that activity that has to equally consider all three pillars of sustainability - economic, social, and green sustainability," she said, adding that the agriculture policy wishes to contribute to maintaining Croatia's beauty, biodiversity and to reduce the negative impacts of climate change.

She underscored that the rural development program definitely brings structural changes to Croatia's agriculture.

She announced that amendments to the Farmland Act would be prepared soon.

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