Kosovo grain crisis deepens

Anni is estimated to be strategic culture, however, wheat is not being cultivated enough by Kosovo farmers. Why the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development ( The autumn crops in 30 municipalities reach 50,000 hectares, farmers say otherwise.

Isuf Cikaqi, director of the UKPZHR Agricultural Policy Department, says that in the autumn of the year we left behind, because of climate conditions, farmers have been unable to prepare land to plant wheat.

He says that since the opium deadline has expired, wheat has been planted in December, but also in this way failed to ensure the necessary amount.

Cicqi points out that by 2018, Kosovar farmers had planted some 74 thousand acres [74 thousand ha] of grain, with 73 thousand harvested.

And according to farmers, the following year has provided only about 20 percent of the necessary amount.

The chairman of the Agricultural Union Federation, Tahir Tahiri, indicated that more than 60 thousand hectares of arable land have not been managed in postwar Kosovo.

And the lack of an adequate wheat cultivation infrastructure, according to him, is the main reason it has resulted in low wheat productivity.

Tahiri says that wheat should be bought because even last summer wheat came out of low productivity, initially because of excess moisture in the spring, and later because of drought.

The company manager “Thes Ari”, Bashkiba Zenjulah, says last year was a poor year of wheat production taking into account the droughts at the time of wheat roasting, which have negatively affected quality as well.

The wheat grower, Zylfer Sadiku, also says that the specific climate has affected the weakening of wheat crops.

Meanwhile, from Kosovo Customs it becomes known that since the introduction of the tax on goods of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo has imported over 23mkg of wheat, which exceeds the value of 5m euros.