Federal Minister of Agriculture for NAP: Raspberry growers need protection, this is a great potential

Hundreds of raspberry growers in the Federation are expressing dissatisfaction due to the low purchase price of raspberries. Buyers have offered only one mark per kilogram of raspberries, many times lower than last year, which has caused revolt among the growers.
The price per kilogram of raspberries last year was around 3 KM.

The Federal Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Šemsudin Dedić, told the Patria agency that the state must protect raspberry growers at all costs, as this represents a huge potential.

- The Ministry has been working on solving the problems of raspberry growers for some time. Two weeks ago, I gathered representatives of raspberry growers, buyers, experts, and the academic community for a joint meeting. In a long and very constructive discussion, we agreed that there are several main problems with domestic production. Unfortunately, raspberry cultivation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has developed without any coordinated strategy so far. We have a truly enormous potential, but to fully utilize it, we must regulate issues such as storage, transport, and incentive measures as soon as possible – said Minister Dedić. He added that this year, after raspberry cultivation became extremely popular among farmers, as well as among those who engage in agriculture only as a secondary activity, “we have a very large number of producers on the market, which negatively affects the formation of the purchase price of raspberries.”

- To help raspberry growers, I proposed the establishment of a working group that will prepare proposals for legal solutions and concrete steps that all levels of government can take to facilitate harvesting and market placement, but above all, to create conditions for the development of raspberry cultivation in the future – said Dedić.

- Two meetings of the working group have been held so far, and the third, final one, is planned for next Friday in Travnik. I believe that we will then be able to present concrete solutions agreed upon by all interested parties to the public: producers, buyers, cold storage facilities, exporters, and experts in this field. 

- In addition, I have repeatedly emphasized that agriculture knows no entity borders, and that BiH raspberries have no future if we do not improve cooperation among all competent institutions – said Dedić. He announced that at the beginning of next month, he will initiate a meeting of raspberry growers, relevant ministers from cantons, the Federation and the RS, ministers of foreign trade and economic relations, and representatives of the Foreign Trade Chamber, to seek a solution for raspberry growers in BiH.

Minister Dedić believes that in the absence of a state ministry of agriculture, producers can – and even must – work to resolve some serious issues jointly, writes NAP.