Should Bosnia and Herzegovina fail to adopt a strategy for agriculture and rural development this year, the next opportunity for applying for IPA II programme will not emerge before 2021!

Adoption of a countrywide strategy for agriculture and rural development would facilitate BiH’s path towards the EU and provide access to European funds. Sectoral strategy is important not only to meet the requirements of the EU but also to support agricultural producers, which is why the strategy adoption was one of the main topics of the project on the prospects of agriculture development of BiH, organised in ten cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Office of the EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUSR). As a part of this project informative and educational forums were organised, bringing together farmers, representatives of the EU and local, regional and international experts in this field.

„Over the past 20 years, the EU has invested more than EUR 30 million in the agricultural sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for this support to continue, a country-wide strategy for agriculture and rural development needs to be adopted. A significant part of the work has already been done, now a political decision should be made to adopt the Strategy“, said the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative, Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark.

The lack of sectoral strategy prevents Bosnia and Herzegovina to apply for IPA funds, which would have a huge impact on increasing business opportunities and investments in the agriculture sector in BiH.

The issue of product placement

In discussion with field experts, the agricultural producers highlighted as their biggest challenge the placement of their products in the market. BiH joining the EU will open the market with more than 500 million potential consumers for BiH agricultural producers, who will be under obligation to comply with the European standards.

Currently, there is a great fear and mistrust in the institutions among agricultural producers who are also very sceptical about the story that in the process of joining the EU they would be able to export their products to the EU market, says Miroslav Božić, a regional expert on the project and the Croatian negotiator with the EU for Chapter of Agriculture and Rural Development. As he pointed out, the producers should have to have the opportunity to propose their ideas to the decision-makers and should ask not to be circumvented in matters that concern them. Also, he advised that Bosnia and Herzegovina should learn from the mistakes of neighbouring Croatia.

„Croatia has received a lot of money from the EU, i.e. EUR 100 million which we spent for IPARD, and at the same time we had EUR 182 million available over the past nine years. This means that we have returned to Brussels nearly as much as we received. We retuned about EUR 82 million. To avoid such a scenario in BiH and to leave as much money as possible to the farmers, you should start preparing thorough plans from the very beginning“, suggested Božić.

Better organisation of agricultural producers

Project experts all agreed that agricultural producers in BiH should organise a little better and have a joint market penetration. Also, they should act in concert when communicating with the government institutions and seeking their rights. The problem of fragmented agricultural holdings and production can be overcome only by better organisation of farmers. They’ll thus receive a great deal of benefits such as extra discounts on a greater amount of purchased primary materials, easier and cheaper introduction of certificates and production standards, easier provision of equipment, higher level competitiveness, and better negotiating leverage with decision-makers and other stakeholders in the supply chain.

Make preparations as soon as possible

For their products to reach the market of the EU, agricultural producers from BiH should comply with European standards of production, which will make them much more competitive than other producers. The road to the European market is not at all easy and it requires a lot of work. However, BiH joining the EU will make a number of funds for improvement of agriculture available as well as assistance for employment in the sector.