ALARMING: While Dedić tours BiH, farmers are on the brink of ruin due to drought!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

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Extremely high air temperatures affecting our country have destroyed the largest granary in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Farmers across BiH are now counting their losses and pleading for help from the authorities, who have so far done nothing to mitigate the problem.

The relevant minister in the Federation of BiH, Šemsudin Dedić (SDA), is attending events, various battle anniversaries, and is invariably part of Bakir Izetbegović's delegation when he visits Brčko, Krajina, Goražde... but he is nowhere to be found among the farmers who unanimously say for this year 2021 – MAY IT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.

And it's not that he doesn't know what's happening, as several letters have already arrived at the Ministry of Agriculture, with associations requesting and begging for help.

Nedžad Bićo, president of the FBiH Farmers' Association, told Patria that there has been no response to their requests so far, and that they can hardly survive this year if the state does not intervene.

“This year, we have all been hit by drought, bad weather, late sowing, and late frosts. Corn, soybeans, and other grains, except for wheat which yielded well because it is sown in the fall and grew before the drought, have completely failed. So, wheat did well, but everything else is below average,” says Bićo.

Corn is the basis of animal feed, he explains, and there will be 80 percent less of it.

“So, livestock farmers will have a very hard time surviving if the state does not inject funds into subsidies and give us what we asked for, so that people can buy animal feed now, when prices are as they are.

Because feed has been skyrocketing since spring, it is now 100 percent more expensive compared to spring,” Bićo points out.

Production in BiH is expensive anyway, and it's impossible to find a balance to say that's it.

“Production here is very, very expensive. That's why everything is like this, and imports are literally killing us. The state allocates very little funds for subsidies and incentives in agriculture compared to neighboring countries.

If it weren't for the media, they would have buried us long ago. We have written to the FBiH Government, the Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Agriculture two or three times, and we have outlined how they can help us. They simply need to allocate 20 million through a budget revision and not allow what happened last year to happen again, when the Government allocated 10 million KM through the 'Corona Law', and the money went to exporters, from which producers received nothing,” explains Bićo.

Farmers are requesting 20 million KM through a budget revision and for everyone to be helped linearly through increased subsidies.

“If this does not happen, many people will be on unemployment and farms will be closed. Farms will not be able to survive, and no one is working on increasing purchase prices either. I will tell you that the purchase price of milk has not increased in the last 15 years. It is always 50, 60 feninga at purchase, while everything else, from animal feed to veterinary services, is 1000 percent more expensive. No one is taking care of anything. We will not be able to survive,” pleads Bićo.

However, there is simply no strategy for protecting either producers or consumers.

“Prices are dictated by the market – middlemen, speculators, thieves. I see plums at the market for 4.5 KM, and I bought them from someone for 1 mark. These are things the state must address,” warns Bićo.

Farmers hope that the FBiH Government will take some action because, as they say, it has come to an end, and agriculture is facing a catastrophe.

“If they don't do it, they will see what will happen to them. We will wait about 10 days, because people are currently busy. And that's a problem for us because silage is coming, and it's a month earlier, so we can at least use something.

And what is being harvested will be of very questionable quality, so as far as agriculture is concerned, the year has been catastrophic in every aspect. There are also livestock deaths from these heatwaves; the animals' hearts simply give out. The other day, we had a part of Krajina and the Banja Luka region where wind and hail caused total devastation. And the hail destroyed the little bit of healthy corn that was left. May this year never happen again,” adds Bićo.

Speaking about the negligence of the authorities who are not listening, he reminded that BiH loses 100 million euros annually from European funds for agriculture because they do not want to form a ministry of agriculture at the state level.