Small farms hampering agriculture growth

TIRANA, June 4 – Albania’s agricultural sector, which employs around 50 percent of the country’s population and produces 1/5 of the GDP, continues to grow at a slow pace mainly due to the fact that the majority of farms and producers are small and use primitive farming methods. This was confirmed by the Minister of Agriculture, Genc Ruli, during a meeting with agricultural producers and donors in Tirana. According to him, the small size of farms, lack of appropriate management of land and agricultural infrastructure and technology make the Albanian agricultural sector more problematic compared to other countries in the region. INSTAT data show the agricultural sector– which employs the majority of people in rural areas, generates about 18.5% of GDP and 48.3% of total employment– continued its moderate performance even in the final quarter of 2010, growing by 2.5 percent compared to the same period in 2009 but was only 0.6 percent up compared to the third quarter. This important sector of the Albanian economy cong remains the least government-funded among the other four priority sectors of education, health, defence, and transport. The 2011 budget of the Ministry of Agriculture foresees a total of 68 million US dollars or 0.51 percent of the GDP despite of a 26 percent increase compared to 2010. German experts suggest the Albanian underdeveloped agricultural sector could get a boost only if investments are oriented toward vegetable, fruit, meat and milk production.