Parliament Amends Law on Farm Chamber
The parliament passed on Wednesday amendments to the act on the Agriculture and Forestry Chamber (KGZS), raising the threshold for membership and relieving thousands of small farmers from having to pay mandatory membership fee.
In line with the new law, the number of KGZS members will drop by some 35% to about 111,000, as only land owners whose notional income from farm land exceeds 167 euros (equivalent to about 3.3 hectares of land) will be eligible for mandatory membership.
Total KGZS revenues are projected to drop by 15% (EUR 400,000) as a result, but the government says this should not have an adverse impact on the chamber's work since it also receives budget funds for the public services it performs.
The main reason for the amendments, according to the Agriculture Ministry, was the mounting number of complaints from small land owners who could not make a living off the land or make use of the services provided by the KGZS.
More articles from this issue:
Archive
|