Kosovo won't even make good bread this year

Periskopi

5 July 2018, 08:34(8 years ago)

In Kosovo the harvesting campaign has begun. According to official data on Kosovo's entire territory with white cereals this year were planted over 83,000 hectares of agricultural land, while only with wheat culture are planted and more than 74 thousand hectares harvested, meaning that average productivity is expected to be around [...]

Jusuf Cikaqi, chairman of the Commission for Monitoring the Harvest-Wage Campaign under the Ministry of Agriculture, says that based on the surface of wheat crops and average productivity, Kosovo will this year meet over 72 per cent of the population's food needs. The needs with this percentage, according to him, are covered if the wheat is not exported outside Kosovo's territory.

If it is calculated with this productivity, so 4,000 pounds per hectare, and the per capita need of 205 pounds [205 kg], totally it must be spent 410 million tons of wheat within a year on Kosovo territory. Taking over 74 thousand hectares and the average yield of 4,000 kilograms per hectares, the total in the Republic of Kosovo this year produces 296 thousand tons of wheat, which percentages 72 per cent”, Cikaqi told Radio Free Europe.

But completely different data presents professors at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Pristina. According to a survey that this Fakulet has prepared, it is said that this year Kosovo meets the needs of the population with wheat production by only about 50 percent.

Ymer Rusinovac, professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, for Radio Free Europe, says recent atmospheric rainfall has affected agricultural culture productivity.

I think half of our nutrients can be met by local production, while the other 50 percent will still be essentially dependent on import. But that 72 percent am sure that we will not have local production”, says Russia.

Otherwise, to increase the farmers' interest in planting larger wheat fields, the Ministry of Agriculture has been subsidising farmers who have applied and met the required criteria.

Jusuf Cikaqi, from the Ministry of Agriculture, says the total amount of subsidies for this year is 25m euros, and only for the culture of wheat 9.5m euros.

The amount of tools for an hectare will also be 150 euros this year for all farmers who have planted wheat, applied and met the criteria to be a beneficiary of subsidies. However, the minimum grain area should be 2 hectares owned by the farmer”, Cikaqi says.

In spite of that, according to the Farmers' Association, agricultural producers have no chance of cultivating wheat cultures, due to the low price of wheat and the large amount of imports from countries in the region.