In the village of Gorni Podlog, this year's rice harvest began the way it has for centuries - by hand, with a sickle, followed by threshing on the threshing floor. The first sheaf was cut by members of the Kočani pensioners' association. It was the 35th edition of the Kočani Rice Days festival, with folk ensembles, guests and delegations from home and abroad, and a blessing for a fruitful harvest.

One figure from the event, though, says more than all the speeches: not a single candidate applied this year for the competition to choose the most successful farmer. So the committee gave the cash prize to the church board of St John the Baptist church in Gorni Podlog, for the restoration and upkeep of the church. When nobody in the country's best-known rice-growing region puts themselves forward as a successful farmer, the problem is hardly modesty.

Agriculture Minister Borče Serafimovski, who attended the harvest, said that as a ministry "we are seriously concerned with solving the problems in placement, production, sales and of course the price of rice itself". The promise was as concrete as a promise at a festival can be: "As a state, we will additionally stand behind rice producers and help them financially for the yield from last year's harvest." As for this year's crop - further analysis at the end of the season.

Serafimovski pointed out that buyers are legally obliged to publish their prices at purchasing centres, and that they should do so as early as next week. He says he has held several meetings with rice growers and with the purchasing and processing centres, the latest in the municipality of Češinovo-Obleševo.

Also at the festival was SDSM vice-president Fani Karanfilova-Panovska, who described the situation of rice growers as "catastrophic" and warned that without urgent financial support the fields could be left unsown next year.

Tradition in Gorni Podlog is alive - with sickles, threshing floors and folk costumes. Whether rice production survives won't be shown by the number of guests at the festival, but by the price paid for a kilogram of rice. And by whether anyone applies for the most-successful-farmer competition next year.