Deputy Minister Krasniqi: MBPZHR allocated 3m euros for development of raspberry sector

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development together with USAID will continue supporting the country's raspberry sector, with the aim of developing this sector in a stable industry, making it competitive in the country and the region.

So it was said today at the third Serbian mjedra conference “achieved and the challenges of the raspberry sector during the year 2018<18x1>, which was held in Pristina and organised by the National Association “The Government of Kosovo” and supported by USAID, the Caritassi Zviceran in Kosovo and the GIZ. During this conference, the challenges of raspberry producers in Kosovo have been presented during this year, which according to participants are aiming to overcome through experiences and practices taken by foreign experts in the field.

On this occasion, in his speech, MBPZHR Deputy Minister Mevludin Krasniqi has said the ministry in recent years has offered great financial support to growers of the trees and fragrant medical plants. “In the policies and development strategies of the MBPZHR treesmen, we see it as significant potential in Kosovo agriculture, but also as the sector with comparison priorities, so the MBPZHR has helped develop the tree sector with granting grants from 2010, worth 152,083.78 euros, while in 2017 the ministry has allocated a budget of 14,500,000 euros. In addition, since 2015 through direct payments we have supported farmers from 400 euros per hectares of”, Deputy Minister Krasniqi has indicated. He also indicated that this year, MBPZHR and U AID together are co-sponsored the project for the eastern trees in Kosovo, where the ministry has earmarked a budget of 3m euros for the project, while USAID 4.2 million US dollars.

While, Director of Mission U AID in Kosovo, Lisa Magno, has said that the situation in the raspberry sector has changed for the better over the years thanks to farmers' work and thanks to the support they are giving for the development of this sector. “U nAID has supported the links between farmers and businessmen and retail vendors, exporters, so we've taken into account this chain of values. We've also helped farmers recover and this has increased their potential to export their” products, Magno said.

The chairman of the Kosovo association “-Meder, Sami Uka, has shown that this year has been very challenging for raspberry growers, but has stressed that the same has happened in countries in the region. To overcome these challenges, he has shown that there are even experts in this conference from countries in the region and beyond, which, according to him, will tell of the best practices and experiences, in overcoming crises that can appear in the raspberry sector even in the future.