Albanian agriculture budget facing downsizing

TIRANA, March.19 – Albania redirects future investments to textile industry and construction, only 2.76 percent of resources singled out for agriculture.
Albanian agricultural investments will be redirected in the future into other industries like textile industry or construction, which is quite a bad announcement for Albanian agronomists, World Bank study assesses, published in Tirana. Agriculture hires more than half of active population in Albania, realizing 24 percent of gross domestic product. Albania still imports almost 600 million dollars worth of agricultural products per year. Experts estimate that mostly the free trade agreement which Albania signed with the European Union is to blame.
Albanian agricultural experts requested an urgent intervention of state through grants and supports of agriculture because the inability of export is leading this industry into perdition.
Albanian government singled out 2.76 percent of resources from the budget for agriculture, in spite of the fact it employs over 50 percent of active population, with more and more non-processed land, and at least 200,000 Albanians are working in agriculture of neighboring countries Greece and Italy.