After abandoning its own fertile lands and natural resources to weeds, BiH is increasingly dependent on imports, while economic and security experts warn in vain that in the event of emergency circumstances and the closing of borders, we would feel hunger very quickly.
According to the data of the Administration for Indirect Taxation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, almost 25 million kilograms of vegetables and fruits were imported into Bosnia and Herzegovina in January of this year, for which we paid more than 39.4 million marks. During the last year, we bought more than 298 million kilograms of agricultural products, so as much as 475,911,019 KM left the state.
Pears and apples
We imported from all over the world what we could have produced ourselves in different circumstances. We paid more than 21.9 million KM for potatoes, mainly those from the Netherlands, Egypt and Germany, tomatoes cost us 28.2 million, and the largest quantities came from Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia, we even allocated a little more than 13.5 million KM for onions and garlic and pork, mostly from the Netherlands, Serbia and China.
We paid more than 7 million marks for cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, kale and similar vegetables, with Albania, North Macedonia and Italy as the countries of origin. We also paid more than 2.2 million KM for salad, mostly from Italy, Serbia and Spain. Almost 2.8 million KM was also found for leguminous vegetables, in pods or in grain, and apart from Albania, they also reached our kitchens from distant Morocco and Argentina. Generously encouraging fruit growers, mainly from Italy, Poland and Serbia, we set aside close to 30.7 million marks for apples, pears and quinces.
They answer to no one
– We are not on our knees, we are a meter underground. The villages are deserted, everyone is just talking about apartments in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Bijeljina or Tuzla, and I don’t know what they will eat when we abolish all the domestic ones. This country lives on VAT, from the 17 percent that is paid on everything when it crosses the border, and we are an expense to these authorities. They say they give us incentives. No, we earn them, and they get a salary, they don’t earn it and they don’t answer to anyone – says Vladimir Usorac, a long-time farmer from the vicinity of Prnjavor.
Lack of functional state structure
Professor of management at the International University in Sarajevo, Ognjen Riđić, explains that the lack of a functional state structure is the main reason for the difficult position of domestic food producers, he writes Avaz.
– Due to insufficient subsidies, our domestic farmers cannot keep up with the Netherlands, Germany and other countries. An additional problem is the lack of strategy, long-term planning. Farmers complain that our authorities do not use the permitted mechanisms to protect the market, we miss opportunities for the modernization of this sector, and everything leads to a decrease in productivity and the decline of domestic production – emphasizes Professor Riđić.
