Serbian farmers stage protest over fertilizer prices

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Several hundred farmers drove their tractors through the city of Pozarevac to protest high mineral fertilizer prices.

The farmers from the Branicevski District blocked traffic to show their dissatisfaction with the prices which they say have gone up by 300 percent. They said that Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimovic had promised a cut in fertilizer prices during a visit to the district last month but that the promise was only partly fulfilled.

Minister Nedimovic said recently that sufficient quantities of fertilizer would be secured through imports and that farmers would get favorable bank loans to cover that expense.
The farmers said that the protest was just a warning, adding that they would stage “a total traffic blockade” next Wednesday.