Prime Minister Edi Rama visited the Food Buotique “Zejtaria” in the town of Belsh as part of the public accountability tour in the central region of Elbasan and met farmers, agritourism and agro-food processing entrepreneurs to discuss the government’s latest financial package to support agro-tourism businesses across the country. With its spectacular natural beauty and numerous lakes, Belsh has become a top tourist destination in Elbasan region also thanks to a series of investment under the government’s Urban Renaissance Program and the area has tremendous potential for agritourism development.

The area’s advantages have attracted a lot of interest of the local farmers and entrepreneurs alike. The Prime Minister even urged local residents who live and work abroad to invest their savings in agritourism by also taking advantage of the funding opportunities under the government’s support package. “Any immigrant who returns home and decide to invest in agritourism, I owe them a lot if should they fail to earn not just more but a lot more from agritourism here than they do from working in the countries where they live. The agritourism support package is co-funded by the government and the European Union,” the Premier underlined, adding that the package envisages a series of fiscal incentives for anyone who invests in agritourism, including a reduced 6% VAT, zero profit tax rate and no other obligation.

A local farmer, who successfully started his own farm upon returning home after years of living and working abroad, highlighted the fact that more information was needed on agricultural crops the government would provide support for.

“I am a former emigrant and I came back home four years ago. The area has huge potential, the Dumre area in particular. I started off with 2 000 square meters of land only and four years later my farm has expanded by over 3000 square meters. However, we need more information on what we should grow.” he said.

PM Rama urged local farmers to grow crops which can be lost or wasted and cannot be sold, calling them to focus on specific varieties of crops instead. “Farmers should focus on cultivating 15 agricultural crops only so that the people’s energies to invest are not wasted. Investing in wrong crops is not someone’s fault, but it is a mere fact that some crops are not highly sought and cannot be sold in the market. Understandably, the government should provide right information about the agricultural activities it supports,” PM Rama said.

The Premier also pointed out the lack of a collection centre or wholesale house for the local farmers in the Elbasan area to sell their agriculture produce and urged local government authorities and entrepreneurs to join their forces and design the project on establishing a collection centre.

“Regarding the collection centre for the agricultural products, it is regrettable that local government units are not active in this process. We should not needlessly wait funding under IPARD programme in order to develop a project and gain the National Guarantee Fund support,” the Premier stated.