Prime Minister Edi Rama today saw first-hand the high standards Albanian farmers adhere to as he visited the dairy farm owned by Alfred Marku, a renowned chef and one of the founders of Albania’s Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance, in the north-western municipality of Lezhe. Marku is also owner of Rapsodia restaurant and one of the entrepreneurs in Kranje, Lezhe, who has employed a large number the local livestock and arable farmers, who sell milk and other home-made products for his restaurant.

Marku is one of the beneficiaries under the support schemes launched by the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency, assisting his entrepreneurship to expand its facility area by an additional 250 square metres to house four cold storage rooms, small-scale yoghurt production room, as well as a product packaging room to complete the dairy production cycle.

“The system can’t provide funding for the individual farmers seeking to survive. Everyone has the right to work independently on their own, but the system doesn’t accept it because the system is about uniting and joining forces. Everyone works for his or her own self, yet they can do so by joining forces with others. You are doomed to fail in efforts to sell your products unless you join forces with others,” PM Rama said.

During his visit, the government head was accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Frida Krifca.

Improving and strengthening the collection and storage centres is expected to have a positive impact on livestock farmers across the country.