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The rise and fall of livestock farming, where did the cows go?

2022-07-02 16:27:06Fokus SHKRUAR NGA ESMERALDA TOPI
The rise and fall of livestock farming, where did the cows go?
Edi Rama and Erion Brace

In a meeting with farmers, Prime Minister Rama stated that Albania covers 97% of the demands with the milk produced in the country. A verification of Faktoje shows that this statement is untrue. Representatives of interest groups, experts in the field and the figures provided in March by Faktoje to the customs directorate refute the claim of the prime minister, which livestock farmers say is simply making propaganda.

The rise and fall of livestock farming, where did the cows go?
Nationwide Conference on Innovation and Technology in Agriculture and Livestock, June 28, 2022

"Today Albania, as we have heard and seen a lot, the milk went bankrupt, ran out, ran out, cows ran out, sheep died, Albania today produces 97% of the milk it consumes. Now tell me where did he go?" - declared in a conference dedicated to agriculture and livestock, Prime Minister Edi Rama a day after INSTAT had published livestock statistics for 2021.

The Prime Minister refuses to admit that livestock in the country has gone into 'free fall' and cows have dwindled. He appears distrustful in public of the figures of the Institute of Statistics, whose source is the Ministry of Agriculture. What does INSTAT say?

Referring to official figures, in the last 5 years the number of heads of livestock has dropped significantly. Specifically, in 2017 there were 349 thousand cows in the country. At the end of 2021, their number has decreased to 71 thousand.

Even Fieri, the district with the highest concentration of livestock, is facing the greatest decline in the number of heads. At the end of 2021, there are 38 thousand 600 cows in Fier from the 47 thousand 700 that were in 2018.

To verify the situation on the ground, we traveled to the village of Vajkan i Madh in Fier. Altin Kajo has a farm with 100 cows. In 2018, he returned from Italy to invest all his savings in a livestock farm, following the trade of his father, who has been involved in livestock farming all his life. Today, Altini tells us that he is trying to sell the cows and return to Italy to work in construction.

"I am making a loss due to the increase in costs. I'm leaving it, with a mind to run away from where I came from. I returned from Italy in 2018 as an immigrant with lek, now I will go as an immigrant with debts, because I took a loan to grow it as a business, but I can't make it. I will go back to work in construction there, because there is no life here anymore," Altini says regretfully, adding that he will sell the cows to meat processing factories.

"I will take the cows I have to the sausage factories. They wait like shadows. I bought them for 2,500 euros and now I will sell them for 1 million old lek," he says for Faktoje.

In order to have a clearer picture of the progress of the sector, Faktoje contacted the owners of some of the largest livestock farms in the country. In Kashar, Bedri Dema, an agronomist by profession, had one of the largest farms, which he closed three months ago.

"My farm used to have 530 dairy cows, today there are no cows. The farm has been closed for about three months. It was quite impossible to keep them as the loss was too great. With these food prices, including as a whole both domestic and foreign production, it became unaffordable. You can't turn on the lights and work or harvest or collect oil for 260 lek a liter," - Mr. Dema emphasizes for Faktoje.

Bedriu remembers that in its beginnings Prime Minister Edi Rama also visited the farm, promising him support.

"At that time it was the biggest in Albania. In the end, I ended up with 130 heads out of the 530 I had in 2013, when I had the Prime Minister visiting. As far as you know, livestock has suffered a drastic reduction in the number of heads. This is how it started with this decline for 10 years there is no livestock. Another thing if it changes the methods of subsidies, but to put it bluntly; the livestock without the help of the state does not exist!"- says Dema.

Although in 2019 Bedri Dema had halved the heads of cows, it still received the attention of the government and was advertised as an example of success in animal husbandry.

Even in Shijak, the Rramilli family owns one of the largest livestock farms in the country. Bioferma Rramilli is an investment of 3.5 million euros and at the best time had over 500 cows. Due to an illness, there are now no cows on the farm, but small cattle.

"We also think that there is a decline in livestock. The lack of support from the state and the import market have affected. Currently we have turned it into a small cattle farm. We have about 250 heads. At the best time we had 560 cows and before the closure, we had 320 head. In 2017, a disease occurred and we had to euthanize the cows. Although the law provided financial compensation for each cow, the Ministry of Agriculture decided not to give it to us. After three years of court proceedings, we won," says Andi Rramilli.

While Florin Mandreu has for years invested in the surroundings of Lezha in a livestock farm with a closed cycle. The 'Flori' farm with 400 cows is going through the same difficulties as other livestock farms in the country.

"We have neither the irrigation system nor the drainage system. The cost of production has become very expensive, like corn, like alfalfa, like hay. The next and most important is the price of oil. It is cheaper for us to get the products from Macedonia than to produce them in Albania. I get alfalfa from Macedonia, it comes cheaper from there to Lezha. And coming out with a loss every time, people say that it is no longer useful for us to deal with this work. If it continues like this, if there is no intervention, support from the government, then I will also surrender," Mandreu told Faktoje.

The difficulties seem greater for farms with fewer cows. For more than a decade, in the village of Lumth in the area of ​​Lushnje, Ilir Hajredini, together with three other family members, have been dedicated to livestock.

"I still have the 25 cows I had, but in general in our area the number has decreased a lot this year. Our rate of profit has dropped a lot as expenses have increased a lot and unfortunately not even God is helping us, the government is not helping us," Hajredini told Faktoje, adding that some of his fellow villagers have abandoned animal husbandry. because of difficulties.

"Only in my neighborhood there are three or four farmers who were involved in animal husbandry who sold their cows to sausage factories and fled to Greece and Italy. And this job will get worse. This year I have also felt the difficulty, more than other years," Hajredini emphasizes.

Faktoje also contacted some experts in the livestock field. Ndoc Fasllia says that the figures published by INSTAT should not be questioned, while adding that livestock has started the downward cycle due to the lack of support.

"Despite the government's propaganda, the most significant indicator is the imports of agricultural and livestock products, which have increased by nearly 50% in the last 6-7 years. In a country like Albania, where the resident population in the country, in the last 6-7 years, has decreased by almost 350 thousand individuals, so the number of consumers has decreased, food imports continue to increase....!!! Why does this happen? Because the local production has decreased, as a result of the reduction in the number of heads, but also as a result of the abandonment of the villages," says Fasllia.

Eduard Sharka, Kryetar i Shoqatës së fermerëve thotë se situata ishte e pritshme dhe për këtë fajëson qeverinë për politika të gabuara fiskale në sektorin e blegtorisë.

“Blegtoria ka qënë në vështirësi dhe shkaku kryesor i rënies së numrit të krerëve janë politikat e gabuara fiskale. Një tjetër arsye janë dhe subvencionet, skemat janë diskriminuese. Rënia nisi në 2018 dhe këtë e tregojnë dhe shifrat e INSTAT-it. Tani goditjen përfundimtare ia dha trefishimi i inputeve bujqësore dhe rritja e çmimeve të produkteve ushqimore.”- thekson Sharka duke hedhur poshtë edhe argumentin e kryeministrit Rama se 97% e qumështit për konsum prodhohet në vend.

“Është propogandë, sepse kur thotë 97% ai nuk fut në llogari as qumështin pluhur që hyn në Shqipëri çdo vit, as njerëzit që kanë ikur nga ky vend. Dhe ai e quan prodhim vendi, qumështin që del nga fabrikat dhe që përdorin qumështin pluhur.”- shton Sharka për Faktoje.

Edhe Ervin Resuli mbështet të njëjtin argument.

“Shqipëria nuk plotëson 97% të nevojave të saj me qumësht. Nëse kemi 1 milionë ton qumësht dhe gati një pjesë dërrmuese e këtij qumështi na vjen nga importi, atëherë normalisht Shqipëria duke qënë se fut gati 40% të totalit të qumështit nga jashtë do të thotë se kjo shifra 97% rrëzohet.”- argumenton Resuli.

Milk processing factories also complain about the problem. But unlike the farmers, the latter continue to register profits. The data processed by Faktoje show that their profit was not affected by the changed VAT scheme in 2019.

In March, Faktoje denounced the increase in the import of liquid and powdered milk at the end of 2021. Experts raised the alarm that the Albanian market is being dominated by imported milk due to the new VAT scheme that was approved in 2019 and it is penalizing domestic production.

 


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