Bećirović: Domestic farmers brought to the brink of poverty

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina warns the public that there has been a catastrophic increase in the prices of agricultural products recently and that due to this, domestic farmers are at the end of their strength, and are massively giving up on farming.

SDP BiH delegate in the state House of Peoples, Denis Bećirović, warned of such a scenario more than two months ago at a session of this House, but as usual, state institutions ignored his proposal.

The initiative by Denis Bećirović requested protection for domestic farmers, who are now in an unenviable situation due to the ever-increasing prices of agricultural crops on the world market.

Farmers point out that they are one step away from abandoning production, which could easily lead to a situation where Bosnia and Herzegovina could be left without food in two years. It was then requested that the Council of Ministers of BiH and the two entity governments jointly engage in solving this problem, because effective measures to protect farmers throughout the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina are urgently needed.

Instead of concrete answers and actions, Bećirović received platitudes from representatives of SNSD and HDZ, stating that the Dayton Peace Agreement does not allow the state to help and protect domestic production and domestic producers, which is an absolute nonsense.

For example, this year alone in the BiH entity of RS, 1,300 milk producers were lost, and this trend will continue. When we add to this the fact that domestic farmers cannot produce even 45 percent of the needs of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the data that they cannot even sell that percentage within BiH, then it is very easy to understand the situation they are in.

Domestic farmers should have priority in the domestic market, but even that is not allowed for them, and they are constantly endangered due to excessive imports.

Therefore, we demand that the Council of Ministers of BiH and the competent entity ministries urgently engage in solving these problems, in order to avoid the scenario of farmers blocking the state border, who, for who knows what time, will rightfully fight for their rights.