grantes and subsidies swallowed up by officials

They show that the association has been constantly discussed with irregularities in the process of distributing grants and subsidies, but neither of the farmers or farmers has taken the liberty of presenting injustices to competent authorities because of the fear of losing profits.

Even for Radio Free Europe, some of the contacted farmers, grants beneficiaries, have refused to tell their stories.

The value shared for subsidies and grants by the Kosovo government in the past five years, according to them, has been around 50m euros.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has not provided any answers to Radio Free Europe, over the divided amount of subsidies and grants or the eventual complaints of farmers or farmers.

Mema: “Black List” for farmers

Ramadan Mema says most farmers have faced bribery requests for securing separate subsidies schemes for them from Kosovo taxpayers.

There's been a fear in most processors who make public irregularities because they thought they'd get into unofficial blacklists, which in the future will not be able to benefit from the various subsidies the Ministry of Agriculture applied. Otherwise, I think the overwhelming share of the beneficiaries of these subsidies, anyone can have a history of”, Mema said.

Subventions are the funds the government receives to taxpayers and gives to certain groups to support their businesses and promote economic development.

Grants, on the other hand, are the assistance provided by a government or nongovernmental organization in the form of transfer but must be met by preset conditions related to the use of this economic unit.

Tahiri: Grants a Source of Abuses

The chairman of the Union Federation of Farmers, Tahir Tahiri, says abuses in most cases have been made in the process of grant approval, as the value of tools in the scheme has been greater.

The grants have had great pressure and demands. To earn a grant, the destructive share of farmers has had to provide 30 percent of the value of the project for which they applied. If the farmer applied for 200,000 euros, he had to provide 60 thousand euros to win the” project, Tahiri said.

Ahmetaj: I have given up applications due to irregularities

One of the farmers who has applied for five years for grants to the Ministry of Agriculture is Union Ahmetaj from the Pec Community, but has never managed to benefit. Ahmetaj heads the farm “Agro Ferma” and has about 30 cow heads.

He has given up the application in recent years, because Ahmetaj says, irregularities that have existed in the Agency for Agriculture Development.

I gave up because they said I should give 10, 20 or 30 percent. So I decided not to apply for grants even though I meet the required criteria. I didn't want to bribe you in advance”, he says.

Yes, for misuse of subsidies, bribery and misuse of official office, Kosovo Police on February 24th have arrested 12 people, among whom ten Agency for Agriculture Development officials -- the agency operating within the Ministry of Agriculture in Kosovo. During the raid on the homes of arrested persons, according to State Chief Prosecutor Aleksander Lumezi, up to 400,000 euros have been seized.

The Constitutional Court in Pristina on Friday, February 26th, has scheduled the detention measure of one month for eight of the officials, while another has been scheduled for house arrest measures.

On February 25th, Kosovo Police have arrested nine people in different Kosovo municipalities, related to the case known as “Subvention 2021” According to police, “contained allegations that suspected persons through bribery have managed to receive subsidies from the Ministry of Agriculture”.

Tahir Tahiri says that in the event farmers have gone and complained to the police or provided media promotion, they have been punished by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Various forms have been found to reject the grant-taking app”, he says.

Otherwise, in order to increase the farmers' interest in planting larger areas of wheat or other agricultural cultures, the Ministry of Agriculture through agricultural programmes has been subsidizing farmers from 150 euros a year, while the minimum grain - planted surface must be two hectares owned by farmers. Subventions of various values are mainly divided to livestock, periphery, orchard, forestman, birdman, beekeeper, and spring sowing and autumn plants.