Agrokomplex, the annual international agricultural and food exhibition, opened in Nitra on Thursday. At its opening Prime Minister Eduard Heger claimed that one of the most important challenges for the current Government is to help the Slovak agriculture sector and boost the production of Slovak foodstuffs. According to Heger, Slovak farmers and food producers have been hard tested since the founding of independent Slovakia. In this context, Heger pointed to the "bad" privatisation of the food industry during the government of Vladimir Meciar (1994-98), unresolved restitutions and the lack of land reforms that have led to the high level of fragmentation in the ownership of Slovak land, as well as the misappropriation of European subsidies originally allocated for the aid of Slovak farmers. "Former politicians, accept criticism of the past with humility. Current politicians, stop referring to the past all the time and focus on the future ahead," responded the head of the Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber, Emil Macho. The Prime Minister underlined that a total of €758 million will be spent on the modernisation of farms, the food industry and rural development in 2023-27. Together with EU support, more than €4 billion has been allocated for Slovak agriculture in the following five years.
Source: TASR
