Drought drives in autumn sowing

Agriculture Ministry officials say that even though all preparations have been made for starting autumn planting, this process has not yet begun because of the drought that is ruling our country. They say that planting wheat and other autumn cultures will also be subsidised this year, but with some changes. Farmers, meanwhile, demand increased subsidies, as they are insufficient for land processing.

Boyk Basri Avdyli, from the village of Softaj of Ferizaj, the land he planted with corn in the spring, is already preparing it for wheat planting. He told Kosovo Radio that although there is little profit from landwork, this year he plans to plant several hectares of wheat. According to him, subsidies divided for planting wheat are insufficient, as there are some demands for the Ministry of Agriculture.

The price of oil decreased, the subsidies possibly within the option increased, with better support followed. If the Ministry of Agriculture helps us, I planted 23 hectares of wheat this year, as these are my schedule”, Avdyli said.

The director of the Department of Agricultural Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Isuf Cikaqi, says that planting wheat and other autumn agricultural cultures will continue to be subsidised, but that the way grain subsidies can change.

We have planned to make some changes under subsidies. For the culture of wheat, we've discussed the possibility of changing the way of subvention. We will make efforts to subsidize the wheat in 2019 for the amount of productivity”, he said.

According to Chicago, even though all preparations have been made for early planting, the sowing has not yet begun.

Because these days have been dry, there has been no rainfall, the planting process has not yet begun. We expect these days to have rainfall and to start the planting process”, Cikaqi said.

In the Ministry of Agriculture, they say the opium deadline for planting wheat is until mid-November, and that more than 7,000 hectares of wheat are planned in Kosovo this year.