TIRANA, Nov. 26/ATA/-The Albania’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Frida Krifca participated on Saturday in the Agro Expo-Global Gap International Fair at the City Park shopping center in Tirana.
In her remarks at the conference “The path of Albanian vegetables and fruits to international markets”, part of this fair, Krifca focused on the new strategy for the agriculture sector.
“The main goal is to reach 1 billion dollars in exports by 2030,” Krifca said.
“The priority of this mandate is the economic growth and the empowerment of Albanian households,” she added.
Minister Krifca presented an overview of developments so far in the agriculture and rural development sectors.
According to her, the agricultural commodity trading marked a significant increase of 27% in 2021, compared to 2017 and (by 77% compared to 2013).
“Total exports of agricultural products reached 46.4 billion ALL in 2021, increasing by +15.6%,” Krifca said.
“Following the difficult year of upward price pressures of inputs and oil, Albanian agriculture sector has shown stability and consistency, compared to the countries of the region, with the highest performance in the agricultural sector among the Open Balkan countries (Albania +1.5%, North Macedonia +0.1% and Serbia -5.4%),” she said.
“The Albanian government has provided support for local production and the reduction of the costs of wheat, vegetables, the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants, as well as the process of aligning agricultural production with international global GAP standards. The government has provided an financial assistance worth 17 million ALL for 56 farmers,” she said.
“In the 9-month period of 2022, the trading volume in the agriculture and agro-processing sectors, with the signatory countries of Open Balkan, increased by 33%,” Krifca concluded. //a.i/
