BOGATIC, Serbia: Thousands of Serbian farmers blocked roads across the country with their tractors on Tuesday to demand higher subsidies and protection from cheap imported products such as milk and pork as well as faster payments for their products.
The protests started in Serbia’s southwest almost two weeks ago and have spread across the country, with 42 sites targeted on Tuesday.
In Bogatic, a small agricultural town, west of Belgrade, tractors, decorated with national flags, clogged up the main intersection. Farmers said the blockade would remain in place until their demands were met.
“We are ready for anything ... and we will not back down ... as this is the rock bottom,” Milan Zorbic, a member of a farmers’ association, said, while acknowledging that farmers like him had missed days working the fields while they were mounting the protests.
Dairy farmers say large volumes of imported milk and dairy products, mainly from the EU and the rest of the Western Balkans, are being sold at prices far below what Serbian farmers can sustainably produce, forcing producers toward collapse.
