The 62. International Trade Fair of Consumer Goods "Agrofood 2012" opened Thursday at Skopje Fair, including the promotion of agriculture machinery, seeds and fertilizers, as well as achievements in organic food.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Ljupco Dimovski opened the fair, saying Macedonian agriculture products have excellent quality.

"This represents an additional incentive for joint and strategic development of a strategy towards promoting agriculture products worldwide", said Minister Dimovski.

He added that a five-year programme for agriculture and rural development support has been adopted together with farmers for the first time, projecting EUR 725 million in subsidies during the period.

"This represents a big investment in the Macedonian farmer and investment in the country's agriculture sector. However, this yields results, since subsidies allocated in recent years have stabilized and enhanced the agriculture sector, the distribution of state-owned land has increased agriculture output, whereas the quality of Macedonian agriculture products and their distribution at foreign markets has also increased", stressed Dimovski.

In the framework of the fair opening, Minister Dimovski also presented the ProCredit Bank awards to the most proactive farmers in several categories.

AGROFOOD 2012 also includes exhibits, debates, workshops.