VILNIUS (BNS) – Because they say the government is not moving to resolve the agricultural market crisis, Lithuanian farmers threatened July 24, to begin blocking all major roads in the country with tractors and other heavy farm equipment on Aug. 1.
On the morning of July 23, farmers blocked the central Lithuanian Ukmerge-Jonava road with some 120 tractors and other vehicles, halting traffic for 10 minutes.
Activists of Lithuanian farmer organizations say they will wait for a resolution to the crisis until no later than July 28, when President Valdas Adamkus is to meet representatives of the government and farmer organizations.
"Now, farmers can be satisfied only with an urgent and concrete solution to the situation," Social Democratic MP Juozas Olekas told reporters last week.
The farmers demand that the government protect their income by raising the minimal prices of milk, grain and other products at which processing companies are allowed to buy.
Farmers say a liter of milk costs at least 1.55 litas ($3.39) in shops, while they are paid 0.47 litas per liter. To buy a liter of diesel fuel, farmers must sell three liters of milk.
Speaking at the same news conference, the council chairman of the Jonava District Association of the Lithuanian Chambers of Agriculture, Vilmantas Lugauskas, described the current situation as "genocide of the Lithuanian countryside" and warned that farmers are losing patience.
