The government support for farmers and the country’s agriculture sector through the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (ARDA) has proved to be successful for many farmers, whose enterprises have earned a reputation in the domestic and international market.

Answering to the interest of a group of successful entrepreneurs in meat and poultry industry, who participated in a conversation with citizens in Korca, Prime Minister Edi Rama affirmed that the Albanian government will stand by producers to encourage and offer them fresh incentives in the future.  “Thank you very much and respect for your hard work, as I have had the opportunity to visit your complex and I am referring to the complex to answer the question. When we visited the complex, we first saw the original building and an additional facility that was built years later and the difference between the two was huge. What was built originally was the fruit of the passion, but limited opportunities you were used to be provided with. What was to be built later was actually the fruit of cooperation and the support granted by the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency. In the meantime, the production and processing process inside clearly showed the entire historic journey of your complex and the process of the entire chain we have started to build and the links we have welded together over the past seven years, which are links that need to be followed by more links in order to complete the whole chain. And if we can today afford providing tax-free oil to farmers, this means that it was a result of the opportunity we have created and allows us to do so. We were unable to do such a thing three or four years ago.

And on the other hand, if there are a lot of other elements missing from this chain, we can openly affirm that they are all doable today as a considerable part of the chain has been built and I would conclude by focusing on your direct sensitive issue, namely production, processing and marketing quality meat products, not only domestically, but also in the international markets. We have yet to be able to export our meat products to the EU member states, yet we are much more closer to doing so than we used to be, not 70 but just few years ago, when animals were slaughtered in the streets and butcheries failed to meet any standard. We discussed this issue while visiting your complex few years ago, but we are in completely different conditions today, though absolutely still inadequate. Niko can certainly provide facts and figures on this issue as he has overseen the process of shutting down the illegal slaughterhouses, and, in his capacity as former Minister of Agriculture, has encouraged investments in modern abattoirs that deliver on highest hygiene, quality and food safety standards, which means that it was absolutely unimaginable that Albanian meat and its by-products could  ever gain access to the European market, as that market observes extreme food safety requirements and the way how the animals are slaughtered is the first requirement. I remember that one of the last issues that Bulgaria had to address before the country could join the European Union and receive the final membership document was to put an end to uncontrolled practice of animal slaughtering in the streets.

I do of course understand the impatience, though it can’t be called as such. It could be well called an impatience pouring after so many years. I do also understand the concern, outrage and despair of the people, but there is not a magical formula. If we are to look at the progress we have achieved through the eyes of Germany, everything is justified, including despair, outrage, insults, discontent and the drive to leave the country for good. But if we would want to make sure that the next generation, the generation of those who are today at the age of my little son, will live here in Albania when the turn 20, 25 or 30 years old, as it would no longer be necessary for them to leave in order to establish a living standard like everywhere else in Europe, then we should be really patient today while we built all the floors of the building of the whole system of the country as solidly as possible. We have lost a generation actually because we have not done the right things over the years and many of the things we have done in these 7 years are things that should and could have been done 17 years ago and we would have not been at this stage. We would have been at a more advanced stage. But, on the other hand, there is no other shorter path to take. Quite the contrary, every time one has sought to take the shorter path, it has turned out to be much longer. Therefore, in this sense, I think it would take a lot of patience to realize the state building processes in its entire links and establishing the chain of institutions, which would then guarantee what has yet to be guaranteed today. They are processes that organically take time,” the Premier said.