Agricultural strategy is essential for the EU support

Forums on the development perspectives of BiH agriculture, organised by the Office of the European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUSR) in Gradačac and Doboj, brought together a large number of farmers who received important information from the speakers about how to improve agricultural production.

The forums were hosted by the Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH, Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, as well as his Deputy Khaldoun Sinno.

Ambassador Wigemark reminded those present that in the past 20 years, the European Union has invested almost 30 million Euros into the agricultural sector in BiH, pointing out that more assistance to domestic agriculture was forthcoming because the EU wants to do much more for BiH.

For that to be possible, a country-wide strategy needs to be adopted. Considerable work has already been done and now a political decision is needed for its adoption. Without the strategy, there can be no significant further support,” said Wigemark.

The Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in BiH Khaldoun Sinno called on representatives from all levels of government to reach an agreement on the strategy as soon as possible in order to enable the European Union to ensure funds for this sector. He also pointed out the need for better organisation among agricultural producers.

Farmers need to organise themselves better. It is very important that they come together to say what they need and convey that message to the authorities,” said Sinno.

Danka Perović from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Montenegro spoke about the experiences of Montenegro with using EU pre-accession funds.

Using the funds meant that the administration and the producers were preparing for what would come when we join the EU. Through cooperation with the World Bank, since 2011, we have been publishing public competitions and distributing support funds to farmers. This was a big step forward, many of them improved their farms, production was modernised and expanded,” she said, adding that Montenegro is also launching the protected designation of origin and branding of its domestic products.

Ružica Gelo, who was the negotiator for the agriculture and food safety sector during Croatia’s EU integration process, spoke of the experience from the neighbouring Croatia.

The greatest benefits we obtained by joining the EU were related to the financial aspects of agricultural production. Even before joining the EU, Croatia allocated significant funds to agriculture, but these funds dramatically increased with EU accession, so that today we have available some 750 million Euros per year. These funds are distributed as incentives to producers and for rural development,” Gelo said.

As at previous forums, the participants used the opportunity to ask domestic, regional and international experts everything they wanted to know about EU integration, European standards they would have to apply to their production and about how to improve their farms.

Both forums were followed by informative-educational fairs with the participation of UNDP BiH, EU ProLocal, the USAID/Sweden project FARMA II, Care International Balkans, the Žepče Entrepreneurs and Employers Association (UPIP), and Farmofit – Rapić feed factory from Gradiška.

The next and final forum will be held on 23 February in Trebinje. More information about the project is available at: http://archive.europa.ba/?page_id=47088

 

Europa.ba