TIRANA, January 28/ATA/ Agro-processing has grown significantly over the last 10 years, reaching about 25% of the total turnover of agriculture. The trends are very positive, which show that the sector has high potential for development and job creation.
The commercial volume of sales and income from this sector is in double digits, while employment has increased by about 20%, supported by the increase in domestic demand for processed products and the increase in the export of products of plant origin. Meanwhile, after completion of the process of important reforms undertaken in the field of food safety, in which the sector is engaged, it has started the export of products of animal origin.
The experts of the Ministry of Agriculture said that the interest of enterprises in the milk processing sector remains high for significant investments to modernize technologies that improve quality and comply with European Union standards.
Meanwhile, to increase the competitiveness and environmental performance of the meat processing sector, there is a need to encourage investments in line with EU standards and improve waste management and by-product processing. Slaughterhouses still need to improve and meet food safety and animal welfare standards.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that the IPARD III measure targets all fruit and vegetable processing enterprises and focuses on encouraging investments in improving food quality and safety and reducing losses in the production process.
According to the Ministry, in addition to milk processing, IPARD III supports seven sectors.
The Albanian wine sector can take advantage of the new opportunities resulting from the increase in domestic demand for quality wines, if it is supported by investments in the modernization of technologies, the improvement of equipment, especially storage in storage tanks, fermentation and laboratory equipment, and the development of wines quality based on local/autochthonous grape varieties.
Olive oil production has increased significantly, tripling. This sub-sector requires an improvement of the operating conditions or premises and of the processing, packaging and labeling lines.
The sub-sector of fish processing is mainly oriented towards the export market and presents a growing trend justified by a growing interest in domestic production. The export capacity is increasing year by year with a capacity of over 20% per year. /j.p/p.s./
