Farmers’ requests for planting wheat are higher than official funds—when will they get their respective payments?
All farmers’ applications to benefit from the support of the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency on planting wheat are officially closed. What came as a surprise was the interest, which went over the available fund. According to official data taken from AZHBR, a total of 7,470 farmers have applied with self-declaration and zero documents from e-Albania. Also, the request for new wheat harvesting amounts to 30,000 hectares.
While farmer interest has exceeded expectations, it appears that the government’s fund to promote wheat production in the country is insufficient, despite the fact that the decision was made to mitigate the international market transition caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.
A total of 500 million ALL are officially available for this campaign. By simple calculation, this fund can support the cultivation of wheat on nearly 16,660 hectares of land, or half of the required area.
However, since the applications are made on the basis of self-declaration, AZHBR will do an administrative assessment, asking each farmer for ownership documents and receipts for the purchase of seeds and chemical fertilizers, and then will come the final field verification for actual plantings.
AZHBR states that the list of winning farmers is expected to be announced within this week, while the payments will be made after planting. If the self-declared demand for planting is real, AZHBR will discuss the possibility of requesting an additional budget so all farmers’ benefits.
By aiming for a 32% increase, the Ministry of Agriculture hopes to reach a total of 70,000 ha for wheat cultivation in the coming year. Currently, our country produces an average of 233.000 tons of wheat per year, while more than 221.000 tons of wheat are imported.
Written by: Elisabeta Dosku; Translated by: Xhenisa Xhangoli / SCAN
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