Producers of berry fruits, raspberries in particular, will remember this year for very bad weather conditions, as well as after the struggle for the highest purchase price of raspberries. In the Maglaj area, this year almost 200 tonnes were produced, and in the Zenica-Doboj Canton (ZDC), which is the leader in production, almost 4.000 tonnes of raspberries. Several exceptionally good years, but also a high purchase price, have led to the expansion of raspberry business in the Maglaj area, but now, due to many difficulties, some give up this production. Some, however, persevere.
“Nearly 20.000 tonnes of raspberries were produced in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) this year, and according to some data of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, the value of exported raspberries is almost 60 million BAM. There are almost 600 producers in Maglaj, and almost 200 tonnes were reaped, “ said Salih Mujanovic, President of the Association of berry fruits producers of BiH.
The producers themselves also wondered why there was a fall in the purchase price. Last year it reached 3.80 BAM per kilogram, and these ranged from 1.50 to 1.90 BAM.
“We saw later that this is the way it is. The market dictates the price and is growing or decreasing every few years. We faced a low purchase price this year. Through our activities we have influenced refrigerators to give this year the maximum of themselves in order to save the production. We also influenced all authority levels to give incentives, which were not great, but we can say they have saved the production, “ Mujanovic added.
According to the data from the Register of Agricultural Holdings, there are 3.500 raspberry producers in the ZDC area, which have planted more than 650 hectares. With the rebalance of the Canton budget, the funds for incentives for agricultural production increased from 2.5 to 2.8 million BAM.
The government of the ZDC approved 972.830 BAM for agricultural producers to support the production of raspberries. Support of 0.25 BAM per kilogram of raspberries produced was realized by 2.617 producers. When it comes to Maglaj, the incentive was increased from 0.07 to 0.10 BAM per kilogram of raspberries produced.
(Source: Akta.ba)
