During the meeting, Denaj emphasized the importance of increasing the quality of products through the union of farmers.

Denaj started off her remarks, saying that she listens to every protesting voice, adding that communication and interaction with farmers are crucial in her work.

“Throughout the year the common denominator of our talk either with the livestock farmers at the Kardhiqi bridge, or with the beekeepers, etc., is the formalization of the agricultural economy and, above all, the union of the operators. They sound like general, technical, theoretical sentences, but in fact it is the only solution that allows us to boost competitiveness, increase automation and reduce costs”, said Denaj.

“We are moving towards a market, towards a process that is not enough to just remain on paper, regulated by law, it must happen on the ground. And in the territory today there is an increased formality, which is attributed to the contracts of farmers, processors or traders that have been missing and this is a product that we do not only identify today, it has been throughout time”, she said.

“We simply need to reduce it, so that the subsidies go where they are needed, but at the same time the farmers receive the fruit of their hard work in economic value. If we in our central and regional structures cannot follow them on the basis of the contract, we cannot help the farmer. So, formalizing the economy is key. Of course, this is an area that is dominated by some products, potatoes among others, apples, onions, you heard the farmers themselves”, said Denaj.

According to her, planning is another key aspect of farmers’ daily work.

“I say it once again, the import is only 6% of the statistics. So, markets do not have a monopoly, there is only a lack of formalization. And we can’t track it through conversations with no traces of contracts, no traces of agreements. It is the same as we talked about at the beginning of the year about the part of livestock farmers. If the livestock farmers complained because the product was taken without a price, the essential discussion boils down to what basis of contract and we all together must understand, not only us as the government, but also the farmers that a very important moment has come here, that we must absolutely formalize the economy between the parties”, Denaj underlines.

“We must understand that today we must formalize the contractual relations, expand it and have the opportunity to produce for markets that we are familiar with, because the market is the one that decides, even the production”, said Denaj.

/sm/