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Cem Ozdemir
Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker
The goods of the German farmers will soon be much more in demand worldwide due to the upcoming crop failures due to the Ukraine war, at the same time they are suffering from immensely increasing costs for fuel, especially for fertilizer.
In order to provide farmers with more support in this situation, the federal government wants to increase crisis aid.
Work is being done to bring up to 180 million euros to the farms for quick help, said Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) in the Bundestag.
For this purpose, the promised 60 million euros from the EU reserve should be increased nationally by 120 million euros.
The EU Commission announced on Wednesday that it would make almost 500 million euros available across the EU to cushion the sharp rise in costs for fertilizer and fuel, for example.
However, Özdemir once again turned against the sometimes loud demands to make greater compromises in the change towards more sustainability under the impression of the war.
If soil, water, biodiversity and climate were not protected, this would lead to crises that would even more jeopardize food security, said Özdemir.
FDP: “We can now afford less land set-aside than ever”
Background: The EU has granted farmers permission for crisis production for 2022.
Against the background of looming food crises worldwide, they are in principle also allowed to use the areas for the cultivation of food that should actually be set aside.
So far, however, Özdemir has not opened up this possibility for German farmers.
In order to become more independent of Vladimir Putin, a more sustainable and crisis-resistant agriculture is needed, said Özdemir.
On the other hand, he called going back to old agricultural instruments and overexploiting the soil the wrong way.
The Russian president's war has shown painfully that food policy is also security policy.
On behalf of the co-governing FDP, the agricultural politician Karlheinz Busen replied: "We can now afford less land set-aside than ever." In poorer countries, people are acutely threatened by hunger.
A shortage of food should not be promoted further by sticking to outdated, supposedly sustainable strategies.
There were also calls from the opposition for greater emphasis on food security.
Union parliamentary group Vice Steffen Bilger (CDU) said that a break for agriculture was needed.
Özdemir emphasized for Germany: "The food supply is secure." In response to rising prices, he referred to further relief that the traffic light coalition now wants to initiate.
With a view to buying hamsters for individual products, the minister appealed to consumers to act responsibly and sensibly when shopping and to show solidarity.
apr/dpa
