The promise to provide every Albanian farmer water to irrigate their land will be very soon a tangible reality also for the farmers of Korça. To fulfil this commitment, the government has allocated a 5 billion ALL budget, which exceeds any funds made available so far for irrigation and drainage by previous governments.
Works are being carried out across the area of Korçe to open and maintain irrigation and drainage canals. Accompanied by Deputy PM Niko Peleshi, the Mayor of Korçe Sotiraq Filo and local representatives, Prime Minister Edi Rama was in Lumanas, Korçe to inspect the progress of works for this extremely process for agriculture.
In the district of Korçe only, 180-km canals will be cleared this year with funds of the central government. This support will continue also in the coming years, considering the tangible results of the municipality at the service of farmers.
The Mayor of Korçe, Sotiraq Filo informed that 140-km canals have been cleared so far for irrigation, some of which weren’t cleared for years. “We have settled the part of winter emergencies, for streams and irrigation canals. We started from the source, from the canal of Gjanç by clearing its two branches. So far we have cleared 140 kilometres of irrigation canals. Some of them weren’t cleared for 10 years.”
The Prime Minister said that the aim is to double the irrigable area by the end of next year. “5 thousand hectares are added only thanks to the financial package of support and logistic support given by the government to this area inhabited by hard working people, people of few words who ask for nothing but water. I am positive that we will bring it to 200 thousand hectares by the end of next year, which means double the irrigable land in Albania, as compared to 2013, and create a totally new base for all the people who want to live with honest work in the countryside. Unfortunately, there are so many unemployed people due to the lack of water.”
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Korça has a new modern point for the collection, storage and marketing of apples. In order to respond to the increased market and agribusiness demand, the company “Kosta” applied for the government schemes to support agriculture, and thanks to the support received, it expanded its activity with this new point which was visited today by Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by Deputy PM Niko Peleshi and the Minister of Agriculture, Edmond Panariti.
With the opening of this point, for which 20 million ALL have been invested, the investor says that the aim is to cover the whole of the value chain, by creating a closed cycle of production. He has invested also to improve the quality of production, so that a part of it is exported in the region. In addition, the period of collection and storage of production is extended thanks to this point. The enterprise counts 2 thousand employees, but the aim is to have this number increased further.
The Prime Minister considered this a success model that should be extended also in other agricultural regions. “We want to share this model we have created as much as possible in other countries, in order to create a closed-cycle value chain. This way, anyone who works a land plot, either large or small, they will have a point where to deliver production, and have guaranteed in real time the sale through this point. If this is implemented, history in agriculture will definitely take another turn”, the Prime Minister said.
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Albanian enterprises are increasingly encouraged by the government support to agribusiness to put into market their high-quality products that compete with dignity in the international market. Thanks to the financial aid provided with funds by the AARD, farmers have improved conditions in the in areas where their products are stored and collected, by transforming them into spaces of European standards.
Founded 2 years ago, the company Ekoprod Ltd in Korçë is another beneficiary of the government financial support through AARD funds. Its activity consists in the collection, processing and marketing of medicinal and aromatic plants, and snails for export. The whole range of plants collected and processed serves as raw material in the pharmaceutical industry, cosmetics. Their final destination is export, mainly in Greece for snails, and in Germany for medicinal plants.
Thanks to the support obtained, the company could reconstruct the existing building and purchase the line for the standardization of medicinal plants, thereby significantly improving a variety of manufacturing processes and improving the quality of the final product.
The company collects products from 2,500 farmers (outdoor pickers), and as such it provides better opportunities for indirect employment for those families who cannot afford other means for living. In terms of human resources, following this investment the company intends to increase the number of full-time employees.
Prime Minister Edi Rama visited today the collection point and met with its executives and employees. The Prime Minister said that the government has already entered another phase of the funding of agriculture, livestock and agro-processing, with state guarantee fund and a guarantee of the EBRD, which will be a great support to farmers. “We have now entered a new phase of the funding of agriculture, livestock and agro-processing, with state guarantee fund and a guarantee of the EBRD, through commercial banks, which means that you and everyone in the agro-processing industry can apply through AARD for bank loans, but with very lower interest rates compared to direct commercial interests. And for some specific cases, there are no interest rates at all because interest rates are guaranteed by the government, and in some cases they are directly paid by the government” – the Prime Minister said.
