Weather disasters that destroyed crops and orchards and the appearance of African swine fever will have major consequences on the domestic food market. Although it is still too early to predict the extent to which the new adversity will affect the price and quantity of agricultural products, it is already more than certain that food prices will rise.
The central city market in Tuzla is well-stocked with agricultural products, and the fact that the offer is dominated by the products of farmers from the Tuzla region is pleasing. Citizens are no longer surprised by prices, but think carefully about what and how much they buy. Most agree that the prices are high.
After a series of bad years for Bosnia and Herzegovina. farmers, where they fought with different levels of government to provide them with legal support for production, weather conditions put them in an extremely bad situation this year. They are aware that their products are expensive for most citizens, but they say that these prices barely ensure their survival.
“Price increases are normal for the current time, the year was really difficult for work, so, in the beginning it was a problem to find time for plowing, then to find time for sowing, heavy rains, later severe drought. Then now these storms, all that reflected on the yields and therefore will also be reflected on the prices,” says Salko Bešić, a farmer from Živinice.
Agricultural experts emphasize that climate change only makes the position of BiH farmers even more difficult, and the disorganization of this sector is seriously collapsing the potential of BiH agriculture to ensure the necessary quantities of food for the domestic market.
“When we compare the domestic organization of farmers’ business in the overall system and, for example, the European system, it is obvious that in the West the state and the farmer work together to ensure a sufficient amount of food for the local population, while here in our country, the farmer is an individual who fights against windmills and climate change. No one stands behind it,” says Suad Selimović from the Tuzla Canton Chamber of Commerce.
When domestic farmers are put in this position of not having adequate support from the state, then we should not be surprised that domestic agricultural production cannot provide even a third of the necessary products for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s market. This also means that food prices will only continue to rise.
