“Technology and Innovation in Agriculture and Livestock Farming” is the conference that brought together farmers, agro-processing industry operators, representatives from the Advisory Service and Know-how Transfer Centres in the country, Tirana Agricultural University lecturers and students, as well as representatives from international assistance programmes on agriculture and rural development in Albania to discuss values ​​of technology use and innovation in agriculture.

Addressing the event, Prime Minister Edi Rama said in his remarks that agriculture is a sector where know-how and state-of-the-art technology are increasingly playing a crucial role in its development.

* * *

Hello everyone!  It is extremely important that efforts are made and tangible success is achieved in building as many channels of communication as possible with the entire community of farmers so that the latest information on technological developments in the field of agriculture is conveyed, the best experiences serving agricultural and rural development are shared and, at the same time, entire required and valuable information on financing possibilities, cooperation opportunities and ways to create various synergies is delivered.

Agriculture is increasingly an area where the most advanced knowhow also plays the most important role. It is a great honour and privilege to have not just here, but also along this path certain people who possess a set of special skills and knowhow and I want to thank in particular Professor Eisenhouer, the rector of Vienna’s University of Agricultural Sciences (BOKU), which has generously opened its doors to us, while Professor Eisenhouer and other university professors have already demonstrated their readiness to open an important channel of communication and knowhow transfer between one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious universities  in the field of rural development, environment and the Agricultural University of Tirana.

It is also a real honor and privilege for us to have on our side, in particular, the German government with its know-how transfer instruments and support to the communities on the path of development in this sector.

Last but not least, it is a pleasure and undoubtedly a privilege for us to have the support and readiness of the Israeli government through its representative here, namely the Ambassador of Israel, a very committed person to do more in this regard, as well as business representatives from Israel, who have established their contacts with farmers in our country.

I constantly reiterate a very simple truth; needless for anyone to heed our advice, as all it takes for them is just to take the trouble to visit others on site and look at what others do. We come across footage being aired on TV and showing farmers who unfortunately dump their cherries as they are unable to sell their produce and raise outcry for subsidies and lash out at the government for allegedly failing to help them and they raise outcry over the prices. This would have certainly been worrisome if this was to be the case with all the cherry production throughout Albania, but for the sake of truth there are farmers operating in the very same territory who succeed, precisely because of the price rise, despite the difficulties they encounter.

The crisis unfolding in front of our eyes nowadays is not a crisis that we have triggered nor can we prevent it from happening. It is a global crisis. A very difficult winter lies ahead, while certain regions across the world may face serious shortages. The same goes for the surge in fuel and energy prices, although the electricity price in Albania has not increased, inflation has not increased. You can all remember that some announced “the doom” of Albanian agriculture last year.

They suggested that an apocalypse was to happen, but what has actually happened is that Albania’s agricultural exports have grown since January, both in value due to the rise in prices, as well as in quantity and volume. If agricultural exports were valued $41 million more than the previous year, which is a significant figure regarding the country’s exports volume, the quantity has increased by 23%.

Precisely because we are living through a difficult time, when availability of sufficient wheat supplies is being questioned, wheat production, including its quality, has increased in Albania, which means that we are today in the position when we can aim for much more. 

The area of cultivated agricultural land in Albania has doubled as compared to seven or eight years ago and if we are to look into the export-import ratio, the change is really significant. It was just a few years ago when the export-imports ratio was 1 to seven, with one unit representing exports and seven representing imports. This ratio is 1 to 3 currently.

Albania produces around 97% of the milk the country consumes. 

This was not the case with the milk production and its quality just a few years ago. Our fishing sector has become a serious industry and the country’s fish and seafood product exports clearly show the transformation delivered by the entrepreneurial spirit in this sector that is becoming a big success story. The country’s fish and seafood exports were valued at around 20 to 22 million euros only. Fish exports are currently valued at 125 million euros and it is our ambition for the exports to exceed the value of 300 million euros annually.

Everybody already knows that our goal is that Albania’s combined agriculture exports grow to over $1 billion in this decade. With the agricultural exports estimated at over $ 1 billion, Albania would definitely be a completely different country.

Albania is set to become a different country and we ultimately usher in an era of large-scale agriculture enterprise. However, to deliver on these goals, we need to push for technology and innovation in agriculture.

The people who took the floor and others who attended the conference, but who didn’t take the floor or many others who are not attending this event, are all champions of a changing agriculture precisely because they believe in innovation and they believe in technology.

Given that we have been forced to allocate extra or additional funding due to the rise in fuel price, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that we are preparing a new funding instrument for farmers.

I would like to once again thank all those who are really motivating us by setting the right example, not just in terms of their success, but also providing us with the right examples in terms of testing our policies. 

I personally am very optimistic that we will take agriculture to a whole new level.

Thank you very much!