Croatia to invest €7.5 billion in agriculture in next 10 years

Agriculture and the energy industry are the two main sectors enabling society and the state to function normally. Therefore, in the next decade, €7.5 billion will be invested in the agricultural sector, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has said.

The prime minister said that his cabinet would spare no effort in helping agricultural producers, the food and timber industries, and fisheries.

The government sent the parliament a draft strategy on agriculture. The document, which should be adopted this year, envisages investments in agriculture of some €7.5 billion in the next decade, which should help the Croatian agricultural sector to reach the target of 30 billion kuna (€4 billion) of annual production.

The Rural Development Programme has made 22.8 billion kuna (€3.04 billion) available to beneficiaries. Of that amount, 18 billion kuna (€2.4 billion) has been contracted, and 13.8 billion kuna (€1.84 billion) disbursed for investments in agriculture, the PM said.

The fisheries branch has been provided with 2.3 billion kuna (€306 million) in grants within the Operational Programme for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and to date, more than 1.2 billion kuna (€160 million) has been disbursed.

Plenković went on to say that the government has increased outlays for investments in food safety, and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan envisages the creation of a food bank.

(Željko Trkanjec | EURACTIV.hr)