All basic subsidies in animal husbandry have been paid, those that are per head, and for delivered milk are paid according to the determined dynamics and only two phases are late, but it is not two years, but a period of several months. They still remain to be paid. By December 31, everything will be paid so that in the new year 2023, for the first time in 15 years, we will enter without a penny owed to the livestock farmers, said today the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Ljupcho Nikolovski.

As Nikolovski informs, with the intervention measure that will be passed to the Government tomorrow, another two million euros of support will be provided for livestock farmers, and the new law on pastures is being implemented in parallel.

Nikolovski once again reminded that in 2017, when he became minister, nine stages of the support for milk were not paid.

-Now, with the rebalancing of the Budget, we have provided a total of 2,7 billion denars for direct payments, for all phases in agriculture for which the state owes, and the goal is that all outstanding subsidies, especially for livestock farmers, will be fully paid by December 31, 2022. On December 31, we will pay all the funds, both to livestock farmers and to all other producers, and we will enter the year 2023 without any debts that we managed to manage, and inherited from the previous government. It is true that since the establishment of the Payment Agency until today, the payment of subsidies for livestock farmers has been delayed the most. We are constantly on their side and on the side of milk producers, but we are not an institution that can say what the price of milk will be, nor are we the only ones affected by the crisis as a country. I hear general information that the production has decreased, and only four percent has decreased this year compared to last year, underlined the minister, answering journalist's questions after receiving the uniforms and equipment for the forest police from Italy.

Nikolovski is sure, as he said, that the measures created with the Intervention Fund and all the others that were taken before the crisis, today give results in every sector.

- We are breaking records with the measure for the purchase of breeding livestock. In June, contracts were concluded for 3 heads with 700 different applicants who are now purchasing the cattle. We are constantly creating new measures that mean growth and development, and here is the new model of subsidies, emphasizes Nikolovski.

When asked if we will have enough food, he once again said that every effort is being made and everything possible is being done for increased domestic production. The support model is also changing, so in addition to the basic ones, additional subsidies are being introduced for strategic crops, which, according to the numbers, show growth.

- I am not responsible for the crisis, but for the timely prediction of measures and policies that are carried out and created in cooperation with science and farmers, emphasized Nikolovski.

He referred back to some of the measures, said that we are the only country in the region that provides subsidies for "green oil" and underlined that the sunflower subsidy will continue next year because it gives results - both the production and the areas under sunflower have doubled.