October 31, 2013 Prishtina – The Eye of Vision organization in cooperation with the Initiative for the Development of Agriculture in Kosovo IADK, within the project “Strengthening the capacity of civil society for policy-making and consultation with the Government in the agricultural sector”, financed by the Union European, have organized the conference at the central level, which aimed to present the findings and recommendations from holding five workshops in five regions of Kosovo (Pejë, Mitrovica, Prizren, Gjilan and Pristina).
About 50 participants from these institutions, representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, representatives from various municipalities of Kosovo, representatives from various local and international associations, and board members from BSHBK took part in this conference.
Dukagjin Nishiqi, project manager from the organization Syri i Vizionit, has shown that during this period 5 workshops were held in the five regions of Kosovo, where with the engagement of an expert, these workshops were focused on the discussion and analysis of existing strategies for agriculture in these municipalities , the problems faced by farmers’ organizations, the implementation of laws and administrative ordinances that are in force and other issues. Also during this period, the website of BSHBK was created, which is www.bshbk.net, which aims to present and promote the work of BSHBK, to inform members and farmers about the various opportunities offered by other organizations.
Zenel Bunjaku, the executive director of IADK, expressed a special thanks to the EU office in Kosovo for supporting the agricultural sector and also to the Ministry of Agriculture for supporting this sector with the increase in the budget and investments in this sector. He gave a summary of the project and activities saying that the civil society has been unorganized and thanks to the civil society project it has been organized and consolidated. “Farmers are now united and thanks to the commitment of civil society (BSHBK), and the Government has been able to issue administrative instructions for the application of the flat VAT rate,” he said.
This is a great achievement for all producers, and that it will affect the development of the agricultural sector. He presents the work, commitments and participation of BSHBK so far (MBPZR working groups for the strategy for agriculture 2014-2020, round tables, BAAN conference, etc.). “There is still work to be done in improving the representation of farmers in Kosovo and in dialogue with the Government. The project has contributed towards a better situation for farmers in general and for economic development through improvements in the agricultural sector,” he concluded.
Arsim Mema from the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the organization of farmers is of special importance for the agriculture sector and now as a ministry we have an address for partnership. He adds that the civil society project that Syri i Vizioni and IADK are implementing is very important for the MAFRD, and that the BSHBK has a special role for the ministry as the best partner. “In the last three years, civil society has been an integral part of commissions and working groups for the drafting of measures and sub-measures of different sectors of agriculture within the strategy for agriculture of the MAFRD 2014-2020,” he said.
Wolf Jaeger – Consultants from Germany, has shown about the organization of farmers in the German state and Europe, after the second world war in Germany, the organizations were divided into cantons, and their influence at the central level was small, starting from this situation also in Germany all the associations are organized in one association, and their influence is very powerful. While in the European Union, the organizations are organized in an organization called Copa and the membership of the associations is 59 with about 25 million farmers, while the cooperatives are organized in the organization called Kozhega which consists of 81 cooperatives with 35 million farmers.
Zijadin Gojnovci, engaged as an agricultural expert, who facilitated the workshops in 5 regions, presented the findings and recommendations from these 5 workshops. The general recommendations are:
• The interest of the participants in the activity of BSHBK is high and they are very interested in cooperation.
• Register farms and businesses and reduce unfair competition.
• To reassess the value of VAT and remove VAT for agricultural inputs that are not exempt from VAT.
• To specify in detail the criteria and forms of how to register the farmer.
• Improvement of production capacities in agriculture through the increase of cold storage for fresh products and drying lines for agricultural products.
• Access to donor projects and MBHR projects to increase.
• To increase the access to donations and to start subsidizing the production of seedlings and planting material, the sector of the production of seedlings has remained out of subsidies from MAFRD.
• To prepare the law for the protection of agricultural crops in cases of natural disasters.
• Regular meetings are necessary at the Kosovo level for BSHBK, on a monthly basis to meet the needs of farmers’ associations.
• Meetings at the regional level are necessary on a monthly basis for the exchange of experiences and the increase of opportunities for solving problems.
• Involvement of the largest number of farmers in associations, the reason is that there are many successful farmers who are not involved in regional or central associations.
• Analysis of the statutory and regulatory basis of BSHBK for the membership of young farmers.
• To analyze the statutes of associations for membership.
• To improve the level of organization of farmers at the local level.
• Lobbying to meet the needs of farmers.
• To improve the level of organization of farmers at the local level and in Kosovo, the inclusion in associations of other municipalities and farmers from Ranillut, Partesh.
• To improve the level of representation of farmers at the board level according to agricultural sectors.
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