Hello and welcome to this edition of UNMIK on Air with Sputnik Kilambi and Martin Redi.
Kosovo’s agricultural sector is in
dire straits and milk producers are no exception. Although they can produce
enough to cover around 30% of the Kosovo market, they manage to cater to only
5%. There are an estimated 68 dairy farms in the province with over 15000 milch
cows. Dairy farmers complain that the main reason for their lack of competivity
is the government’s bad fiscal policy. Time after time, they say, their
complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Officials at the ministry of agriculture
acknowledge that they do not provide enough stimulus.
Goran Bogdanovic, minister of
agriculture and forestry says he does understand the difficulties being faced
by milk producers. One problem, he says, is that a number of cows either died
or were killed after the war in 1999. A bigger problem is that the government
is cash-strapped
Goran Bogdanovic: We have enough projects but the money is missing. There is a need for
money so we can start creating production capacities in the dairy farms. So
that all the farms would be fully functional.
We would also be able to produce quality animal feed. And not be dependent on
imports. The aim of my colleagues and myself at the ministry is to improve the
situation, not only in the farming sector but in other areas of agriculture
too.
Drena, a village in the Drenitsa valley of central Kosovo. Rolling hills
as far as the eye can see, and tucked away in the valley, Bedri Nika’s dairy
farm.
He had worked for decades in Germany, he even had German citizenship and
there was no real reason for him to return. But he wanted to make a go of
things in Kosovo and help build the economy here.
Bedri Nika is unimpressed and unconvinced by the minister’s assurances.
He believes that the ministry is part of the problem and that officials are in
fact hindering local milk production. They aren’t really interested, he says,
not a single official has visited a dairy farmer to inquire about his problems.
For a year now, Bedri Nika acquired 35 Simmental cows, an American breed a year
ago, but he is still waiting to sell the milk. We are 45 members in my family,
he says with a smile, so we end up drinking most of the milk.
Bedri Nika: Government is
blocking agriculture, especially the farms. The Ministry of agriculture says
that the imported milk is much better and its quality is high, while they
describe domestic production as being of lower quality. And this is coming from
our ministry and government; I do not understand this. Neither do they take
into consideration that domestic milk is much better and cleaner.
Minister Bogdanovic believes that the population is unaware of what is
being imported into Kosovo. He has urged UNMIK to be more cautious with regard
to the imported products.
Goran Bogdanovic: Another
thing I find unacceptable is that we have no control over the quality of food
that enters Kosovo. I say with full responsibility that the food in Kosovo is
not healthy. I know what I am talking about; Kosovo does not have the necessary
structures for quality control of milk products, meat, and things like that.
The food that enters Kosovo is of bad quality.
Not far from Prishtina airport lies the village of Miradiye e Eperme.
This is where the socially owned enterprise ‘Lavertari-Blegtori’ is situated.
The company now works in cooperation with the private company ‘Vita’ has 70
Holsteiner cows. They produce between 550-600 liters of milk per day, but
because of the market competition they too are in a bad situation. Workers
complain that they haven’t received their salaries for 4 months now.
The manager of the farm said that they are lucky because they are
selling their milk to the nearby “Bylmeti” milk factory, but he thinks that the
farmers’ position has become desperate.
Muharrem Bytyqi: Our
problems are due to low milk sales, there no interest in keeping the cows
because they cost a lot to maintain. The price of animal feed is catastrophically
high so we are unable to cover our expanses.
The milk factory “Bylmeti” did receive a credit line from the EU and its
production is due to jump from 5000 liters to 25000 from the 1st of
October. The owner Ymer Berisha, who also heads the Kosovo Society for Milk
Producers and Processors, said that Kosovo consumes 400 thousand liters of milk
products a day. 33% of this is produced in Kosovo but only 5% reaches the
market.
Ymer Berisha: In the European countries and the countries
surrounding us the subsidy is €8 cents per liter from their ministries. But
here there is no subsidiary and this makes us unequal.
The “Bylmeti” factory works under the former Yugoslav standard, ISO
standard, but in October they will receive a EU license and will then be able
to export to the European Union. Ymer Berisha also has doubts about the quality
of milk coming into Kosovo. Tests on milk imported from Hungary, he says,
showed that it contained up to 17.2 percent of water. It is essential, he
stresses, that the ministry and government control the quality of food products
entering Kosovo. And he warns, the
farmers’ patience is running out.
Yemr Bersha: We have been
under great pressure from union members for us to do something to press our
demands, similar to what happens in Western Europe. Like go onto the
streets with our cows, our machines and everything, so that people can see how
bad our situation is.
There are good reasons to buy milk produced in Kosovo – both in terms of
quality and to keep Kosovo’s rural economy going. But the farmers and milk
producers also need to go on the offensive – for starters, an advertising
campaign to raise the awareness of their customers.
That does it for this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks
for listening.