LJUBLJANA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Slovenian government on Wednesday adopted an intervention bill on measures to remedy the consequences of the April frost in agriculture.
The bill, which also regulates the procedures of assessment of the damage caused by the disaster, looks to provide direct financial aid to the most affected and vulnerable farms in Slovenia, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported quoting a government press release.
The April frost this year was the second consecutive natural disaster of its kind since April last year, and caused the most damage to permanent crop. The damage is believed to be similar to last year's frost at just over 44 million euros (50 million U.S. dollars).
Taking into account the preliminary assessment of the damage caused to orchards and vineyards, the bill provides seven million euros from the budget reserve for 2018, said the STA report.
Additionally, the Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture will earmark this year around 180,000 euros from its budget for subsidizing interest rates for loans provided by the national regional development fund.
Slovenian Agriculture Minister Dejan Zidan commented that the bill would be fast-tracked through parliament next month. "This is important for us, because certain measures have to be taken already at the end of August."
The minister is happy that the financial aid for the most affected farms has been almost doubled compared to last year, the STA report said.
"If we are very fast, payments will be made next May," he said, adding that the bill was based on statistical data for 2017, which would be known only in April 2018. Enditem
