Farmers forming a state-level association: Preventing the departure of farmers from BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - An initiative meeting for the formation of a farmers' association at the BiH level was held at the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH.

"Our goal is agricultural producers. By forming an association, we want to be partners with the BiH Parliament, the BiH Presidency, and the Council of Ministers. We want farmers to feel like human beings and to live off their work," said Vladimir Usorac, president of the Association of Agricultural Producers and Dairy Farmers of RS, before the meeting.

He adds that the talk about forming a Ministry of Agriculture at the BiH level is political, and they do not want to engage in politics.

"We are farmers, we just want the government not to interfere with agriculture. We want farmers in BiH to have conditions like farmers in the EU. Subsidies must be the same in every part of BiH. Let the government solve our issues, so that farmers do not get involved in politics. The focus will be on the future, i.e., on farmers under 40 years of age," said Usorac.

He also explained that there are those who do nothing but receive subsidies.

"More than 2,000 villages are empty. It is farmers who are leaving BiH, not citizens. Farmers can do any job, they just need to learn the language a little. The state gave citizens university degrees and now they sit on the 16th floor and know how to do nothing, because they are like a bird that has never flown," says Usorac.

Nedžad Bićo, president of the Association of Farmers of FBiH, said that they are doing everything to eradicate fake farmers who take subsidies and do nothing.

"We advocate for a larger amount for farmers in the budget. An association at the BiH level will facilitate our access to EU funds. We will not allow politics to enter this," said Bićo.

Usorac concluded his address to the media by saying that in BiH, 200 million KM are allocated for mowing grass along roads, while farmers receive 150 million KM.

"Work must be paid for. We do not want to leave the country, we want to work in our own land," concluded Usorac.