The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management will extend the deadline for updating documentation for 3,4 thousand beneficiaries of old-age benefits, so that everyone has time to complete the necessary paperwork. They requested the renewal of documents in order to reduce abuses in this sector, and to make payments according to a system that suits farmers.
This was officially told to "Vijesti" by the Ministry headed by Vladimir Joković.
Beneficiaries of old-age benefits were originally supposed to submit updated documentation from August 4 to 15, but the Ministry did not specify how much this deadline will be extended. The head of an agricultural household is entitled to old-age benefits if he is over 65 years old (for men) or 60 years old (for women), lives in the countryside, is engaged in agriculture and does not receive income from any other source.
The Ministry will consider that anyone who does not submit new documents has given up on these payments...
"The Ministry is monitoring the trend of applications for old-age benefits. Taking into account that certain institutions are on annual leave, the deadline for applications for users with updated documentation will be extended. We emphasize that we understand, and that all users will have the opportunity to update their documentation. We have prescribed documentation that can clearly and unambiguously eliminate all possible abuses and enable users themselves to have their old-age benefits paid in the manner they wish. The required documentation has been publicly announced and displayed on the Ministry's website," the department said.
"Vijesti" has been contacted in recent days by several beneficiaries of this benefit, as well as several members of their relatives, to point out that the deadline for submitting documents is too short, that some of them are too old and cannot move around in the extreme heat, and that a number of them live in rural areas, so they do not have access to telephone or internet networks, in order to find out about this update at all...
The Ministry requires beneficiaries of old-age benefits to submit documentation no older than a month and to state whether they want to receive the money through a bank or the Post Office. The required documents include an application for old-age benefits, a certified statement that the applicant and spouse do not receive any income in the country or abroad, cadastral evidence of ownership of agricultural land, a municipal certificate that they are engaged in agriculture and live in the countryside, a certificate of residence...
This benefit is defined by the Law on Agriculture, and since 2015 it has been tied to a level of 50 percent of the minimum pension. In 2021, this limit was increased to 70 percent of the minimum pension, at the proposal of the Democratic Party of Serbia. As the law amendments simultaneously increased this limit for calculation, as well as the amount of the minimum pension itself, the amount of this benefit has increased significantly.
In 2020, the old-age benefit amounted to 64,41 euros, in 2021 it was 72,89 euros, in 2022 it was 177 euros, in 2023 it was 207 euros, and in 2024 it was 315 euros, as the minimum pension limit increased to 1 euros as of January 450 this year. The state budget for 2025 allocated 14 million euros for this item.
Three years ago, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its report “Study of Material Benefits for Priority Amendments to the Law on Social and Child Protection” cited old-age benefits as one of the problems in the social protection system. They concluded that this benefit was redundant because its beneficiaries should receive material security, that it burdened the agricultural budget and created disparities in the social benefits system.
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