Gov't approves state support to farmers hit by drought

Prague, Jan 23 (CTK) - The Czech cabinet Wednesday approved a system of grain fodder loans from the state's grain reserves to farmers whose crop was damaged by drought last year, Prime Minister Petr Necas and Agriculture Minister Petr Bendl said after the cabinet meeting.

The cabinet approved a temporary drop in the limit for the state's grain reserve of 100,000 tonnes so that farmers can borrow grain for the animals they breed. Farmers will borrow the grain from the State Material Reserves Administration (SSHR).

Some localities in the Czech Republic, above all Moravia, were hit by spring frosts and then by extreme drought last year, and many farmers operating in animal production are tackling lack of animal feed as a result, Bendl said.

The state loans will be provided to farmers whose land was damaged by drought to an extent of at least 30 percent.

Breeders can apply for a maximum loan of one tonne of grain per a large livestock unit of ruminants and two tonnes of grain for a livestock unit of pigs and poultry. The conditions of the loan are set at Kc4,500 per a tonne of grain at interest rate of 0.527 percentage points for each started month of the loan.

The cabinet Wednesday also approved the sale of unused land and buildings owned by state-run Railway Infrastructure Administration (SZDC). The value of these idle assets is almost Kc9bn.

SZDC plans to invest the money obtained from the sale into repairs, reconstruction and modernisation of railway tracks.

Ministers also approved parameters of a public order to reconstruct a three-kilometre section or railway track in Cesky Tesin, northern Moravia, which is part of the 3rd rail transit corridor.

The costs of the modernisation are estimated to reach almost Kc1.2bn by the SZDC.

The ministers also gave their approval to the Transport Ministry's plan to check the expenditures made by SZDC's management board that have recently been criticised by the Supreme Audit Office (NKU). The NKU criticised the SZDC's board for excessively high costs of operation of corporate cars.