Farmers are ploughing a gloomy furrow

Voters in the Baltic state of Lithuania go to the polls this weekend to give their verdict on the country's proposed entry to the European Union in 2004.

Opinion polls suggest more than 60% will vote "yes" in the referendum, but one group of the population is distinctly eurosceptic.

Lithuania's small farmers say they are already suffering from low prices for their produce, and EU membership will only make things worse.

Lithuanian television reported on the small village of Kulokai in the south-west of the country, where about 300 people work the land, keeping cows and pigs.

The Rutkauskas family told the TV they could not imagine things getting any better.

'Only enough for bread'

"You know, it will be bad whatever happens, whether we join the EU or not," says farmer's wife Angele. "Life will not improve."

Angele cannot imagine things getting better

Another resident worries for his five daughters.

"The living standard is low, wages are low, you can only earn enough for bread and you are in debt up to your neck," he said. "I don't know what to think."

One in five Lithuanians of working age are employed in agriculture - a total of about 300,000 people.

But the TV report says the lack of information means many of them may not bother to vote in the referendum.

'Nobody wants to vote'

"People do not understand what it is all about, especially the older ones," says Marija Pauliukoniene.

"Younger people are also against, and nobody has explained to them that life will improve. That's how things stand. Nobody wants to vote."

Emilija Siauriene and her daughter are typical of Lithuania's small farmers.

The farming is low-tech and labour intensive

They have a five-hectare plot and use the most basic machinery.

"We are now working badly, but maybe they will teach us how to work, maybe they have better tools in the EU. Maybe there will be somebody else to pull the plough," she says ironically.

Lithuania's politicians, its business class, the Roman Catholic Church and farmers' organizations all support EU entry.

The government has promoted postal voting and extended the opening times of polling stations to boost turnout, which must reach 50% for the referendum to be valid.

But down on the farm, the seeds of scepticism are still growing strong.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.