Well it is very difficult to earn merit. I got 27 merit in more than 2 months: this probably because in the local forums many people do not have an higher rank (I talk in particular about the Italian community) and therefore there are not a lot of merit source. Many people cannot provide merits at all because they are Junior Member or Member, so they just have few.
You need to post in the international section to get merits but it appears it does not help anyway, considering good post are being provided but merits are not received.
Let's hope someone will consider them in the next days
Indeed it is difficult but it is not impossible. you are doing very great compared to other members in the forum.
That is the problem with local people, maybe they are here only for money or they dont want to improve their english so they cant talk in international board, so the chance of they are getting merit is lower than people who are roaming to all board of the forum. It is considered already by admin and other established member to add more merit sources, but the thing is, does your local board has established members who has the ability to distinguish good and bad post? If your local board has it, they can apply themself to be a merit sources by finding 10 great posts and post it as a thread in meta section.