Polish government to provide over $500 million in subsidies to farmers affected by low grain prices
The Polish government will pay subsidies worth 2.1 billion zlotys ($516.49 million) to farmers to compensate them for low grain prices, according to a draft law published Friday on the website of the Warsaw Executive, reports Reuters, quoted by Agerpres.
Farmers in Poland and other EU member states have protested in recent months over low prices for agricultural products, which they say are caused by high imports from Ukraine as well as the constraints imposed on them by EU environmental rules.
"The aid is intended to compensate farmers for losses suffered as a result of the market situation, caused by Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and to increase the turnover from grain sales, thus accelerating the emptying of silos before the next harvest", reads the text of the normative act.
The grants will be financed from the Polish Relief Fund, whose main objective is to support Ukrainian refugees. Under current regulations, the Polish Relief Fund will in turn receive the money from savings made elsewhere in the public sector and possibly from bonds issued by the Polish state-owned Development Bank (BGK).
