Dedić in Kalesija: With a conscientious local government, we can prevent most agricultural crises

Federal Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry Šemsudin Dedić, along with ministers Edin Ramić, Amir Zukić and Josip Martić, is on a working visit to the municipality of Kalesija today. On this occasion, they met with the Mayor Sead Džafić, with whom they discussed the past cooperation between the local government and the Government of the Federation, and ways to improve it.

As stated by Minister Dedić, Kalesija is an example of how municipalities can successfully utilize the opportunities offered by international projects implemented by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry.

Through the IFAD Rural Business Development Project, local roads have been built and renovated in the Kalesija area, and four milk cooling tanks have been procured for the MILK LAND cooperative.

- Infrastructure is key to developing entrepreneurship in rural areas. Thanks to the new roads, farmers can deliver milk to the cooling tanks, from where it is transported by tankers, using the same roads, to dairies. Rural development projects thus connect farmers with the market and create market links from producers to processors - Dedić emphasized.

IFAD is also financing the construction of a cold storage facility for fruits and vegetables in the municipality. Kalesija is also one of the beneficiaries of the Irrigation System Development Project, financed by the World Bank and implemented by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry.

- Kalesija is proof that with a conscientious local government and good use of available funds, we can, if not prevent, then at least mitigate most agricultural crises. The more municipalities engage in solving irrigation issues, the less the consequences of drought will be. Similarly, the more municipalities utilize IFAD's assistance for building cold storage facilities, the better the position of, for example, raspberry growers will be.

Throughout the year, the Federal Ministry offers systemic solutions so that neither adverse weather conditions nor market problems can threaten the work of our farmers, but only through the active participation of local communities can we achieve satisfactory results - said Dedić.

In addition to the aforementioned projects, Kalesija is participating in the Flood Emergency Recovery Project (FERP) and, within its framework, has a total of over 1.1 million KM for the cleaning and rehabilitation of the banks of the Tavna, Gribaja, Dubnica, Kalesijska rijeka, and Kalesica rivers.