MEP tells NAP: Bosnia and Herzegovina should invest in rural people

Bosnia and Herzegovina should invest in rural people, because besides producing food, they preserve the environment and space – said in an interview for the Bosnian news agency Patria Croatian MEP Marijana Petir.

Her recommendation is that Bosnia and Herzegovina base its agriculture on small and medium-sized family farming associations, and unite them into strong producer organizations that will take care of their members and thus better represent their interests in relations with business partners (buyers, processors, and retail chains).

State investment in this sector of the economy would soon pay off many times over, primarily by reducing unemployment in a country where almost half of the population is not working.

- Agriculture in BiH originates from a similar system and has survived a similar method of privatization of the agricultural sector as Croatia. I believe we are plagued by similar problems, some of which are a bit more pronounced and others a bit less – says Petir, adding that she is ready to personally share her experiences with farmers in BiH. And not only that, she is ready, she says, to contribute to bringing the experiences of countries where agriculture is at a high level (such as Austria, Germany, France) to BiH.