The sovereign guarantee fund to support investment projects in agriculture, part of an assistance package of four billion lek, represents a fresh opportunity to boost funding for agriculture and agribusiness due to add up to the current government program designed to ease lending, such as the program with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Union’s IPARD Programme, and German KfW Development Bank. Prime Minister Edi Rama today attended a presentation of the initiative during an event at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The government provides this guarantee for loans to support investment projects and fund the collateral of agricultural loans in order to cut interest rates applied for Albanian farmers and agro-processing enterprises.

In his remarks, the government head noted “it is time for everyone to become aware that the time of almsgiving agriculture, subsistence agriculture, the time of subsidies provided to agriculture without any criteria is now over and that innovation is a must to further develop the country’s agriculture.

 

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It is very important that we have come together today and it is important a significant message is conveyed not only from the government but also by our partners to the country’s agriculture  sector and all stakeholders engaged in rural development regarding the fresh opportunity that has been created since 2016, while the Albanian government to guarantee loans to farmers or agricultural enterprises, insisting on the message that those engaged in agriculture should think with an eye to the future by simply forgetting the past and forging toward the future.

It is time for everyone to become aware that the time of almsgiving agriculture, subsistence agriculture, the time of subsidies provided to agriculture without any criteria is now over.

Just like it is now over the era of individual fragmented agriculture with farmers limiting themselves to the border of their land plot, because it is impossible for anyone to succeed no matter how much the government does for them to guarantee a better future or to make sure that the present takes a completely different look from the look of a tormenting survival.

For this reason, I would like to join previous speakers and tell of those likely watching us now that the government will definitely and increasingly insist to support agriculture and rural development, the government is committed to supporting farmers and investment projects to boost agricultural and livestock production, agribusiness and rural tourism and convey the message that the future of agriculture should be seen through the eye of innovation, new synergies and entrepreneurship, which relies on investing its capital and relies on interaction with commercial banks.

Together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development we allocated EUR 180 million to support vital sectors like agriculture and tourism, easing bank lending and funding for projects in this sector and such mechanism practically paved the way towards granting access to the finance for the agribusiness sector through a credit line and risk-sharing facilities through local partner banks and financial institutions.

What we have before our eyes today, as one of the previous speakers said, are not a reason to be fully satisfied, but it is a reason to be fully convinced that this is the right way. 

More than 6,000 applicants have benefited support under a funding of EUR 72 million disbursed under the guarantee fund. A considerable part of the fund has yet to be allocated and is available to every applicant. In the meantime, the government of Albania has made available another sovereign guarantee fund to make sure that we move forward on this path and make sure that lending to agriculture further increases.

I am very convinced that Albania today offers all the success stories and all the necessary examples to demonstrate, no longer through words only, but also through deeds, what is the path towards future of the country’s rural development, what is the path towards future modernization of the agricultural production sector, modernization of the processing and agro-processing sector, of course, path towards growing the country’s agricultural exports.

The pathway to the future and success is no longer the path followed by one, two or three successful stakeholders in the country’s agriculture, but by hundreds of people, whose number keeps growing to thousands of them. It is up to us as the government, it is up primarily to the Ministry of Agriculture to seriously invest and promote such examples in the eyes of everyone else, who are seeking to become successful in this sector, and show them through the power of deeds of this system actors that success is in sight, profits are considerable and the pathway to the future is possible. The future is possible for all of those who join forces to boost production and export, but it is also possible for those living in other geographical conditions to invest in agro-tourism without having to join forces with others to attract consumers to their own homes.

The time when the state was seen as the saviour has ended together with communism that created the illusion of the state as the saviour and meanwhile the state became the ubiquitous hostage-taker that imprisoned people and their dreams. 

The state is no longer the saviour.

The state is the supporter and the guarantor regarding aspects about freedom of competition and guaranteeing access to funding mechanisms. 

The real saviours of the future are the ones who have set leading examples and success stories, the ones who have exponentially increased the fishing export figure.

Our fishing industry today 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 thanks to a relatively not high number of involved stakeholders.

On the other hand, agricultural exports are also clearly evidence of the chances of success, as exports are rising steadily and sustainably. Practically, the agriculture sector offers two faces; one that is the look of the future and the other look representing the past. What we can and should keep doing is to encourage all the group of individuals operating in this sector, who have remained hostage to the past, to courageously, willingly and perseveringly join the others on the path towards the future by joining the convoy of those who are already successful.

It is theoretically impossible to build the future by relying on a fragmented land plot when it comes to agricultural production, livestock production. Certainly a detached plot and a solitary work can turn out to be successful in rural tourism, but it can never succeed in growing, collecting, processing and exporting agricultural products.

Today we have very significant data. The area of cultivated land in Albania has doubled compared to eight years ago. The growing agricultural production and exports are a result of new foundations we have already built. On the other hand, we are also aware that although the area of cultivated land has doubled, a series of problems have yet to be solved to tackle backwardness because of the chains of the past that need to be broken and fresh synergies, innovation and technology are needed to develop the sector.

I am very pleased to be here with the representatives of commercial banks today. I listened carefully to the remarks by the banking sector representatives, who took the floor to speak on behalf of the commercial banks, and I hope that his remarks really express readiness of the private banks to attach greater attention to the demands from the agriculture and rural development sector, because it is definitely a win-win story for everyone. Under the sovereign guarantee fund, I am confident this process becomes much easier for the commercial banks. However, the Ministry of Agriculture’s support is a must in this process to make sure that banks receive applications that meet the required criteria and deserve to be taken into consideration, which means that the Ministry should offer more information and technical assistance to farmers and other applicants, which means higher energy investment on our part to boost the know-how capacities, because, after all, the history of development of other countries show how crucial know-how is for one to succeed in every area and in agriculture in particular.

I would like to thank everyone for the contribution. It is a small but crucial group for the sector’s progress and, again, on behalf of the Albanian government I would like to call on all commercial banks to enhance their landing activity and become more proactive vis-à-vis the agricultural sector, because it is an important contribution to the country, it is an important contribution to the people.

Thank you very much!