KS Buys Surplus Agricultural Products Again

SARAJevo, Ernad Metaj

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The Sarajevo Canton Government has adopted the initiative of the Ministry of Economy of KS to purchase market surpluses of commercial potatoes, onions, and other types of vegetables needed by the Sarajevo Canton Commodity Reserves Directorate.

The Minister of Economy of KS, Adnan Delić, explained this decision of the Ministry by stating that agricultural producers faced a number of challenges during the previous year that hindered their production, but also by the data that last year's initiative to purchase market surpluses was assessed as one of the most successful projects. It brought a number of benefits, both to agricultural producers and to beneficiaries, i.e., vulnerable social categories to whom the purchased products were distributed.

“Last year, at the initiative of the Ministry of Economy, the Government adopted a conclusion that the KS Commodity Reserves Directorate, in cooperation with this Ministry, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Labour, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees of KS, would purchase market surpluses of commercial potatoes and onions from farmers in the Sarajevo Canton who received incentives for their production. As this activity received excellent feedback last year, we decided to repeat the initiative this year,” explained Minister Delić.

He added that this year the Ministry proposed to provide a larger amount of funds compared to the previous year.

“This year, we initiated an increase in the amount of allocated funds for the purchase of these products, considering that we estimated, based on the increase in requests for incentives in agricultural production, that production will be higher than in the previous year. Our goal is to meet our producers halfway and facilitate the distribution of value-added products, as we did last year in cooperation with the relevant ministries, i.e., to provide vulnerable social categories with some basic food items, as well as organizations and associations that care for this population,” said Minister Delić.

The initiative to purchase market surpluses in agricultural production, adopted at today's Government session, will be implemented in accordance with the process of harvesting the crops from the previous year's sowing.

The Minister also stated that today an initiative was adopted for the development of a feasibility study for the construction of a pellet production facility in the Sarajevo Canton area, and that the Government has tasked the Ministry of Economy with the implementation of this initiative.