In the Annual report from the field of agriculture, food and rural development for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for 2016, which was put together by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, it is noted that a total of 530,000 hectares of land was sowed upon, around 481,000 hectares of land was left fallow, while around 3,000 hectares of land was listed as ‘other.’
It was noted that the agricultural sector as a whole marked significant changes compared to the previous year.
The exports for 2016 were worth 934 million BAM and is 14% larger compared to the previous year, while imports totaled 2.95 billion BAM and s 2.4% greater.
The negative balance in agricultural trade in 2016 was 2 billion BAM, which is 2.8% less than last year. Coverage of imports with experts was 32% and was 4% higher than in 2015.
The structure of the use of agricultural land hasn’t changed much in several years. Wheat still had the largest percentage of used land at 58%, followed by fodder at 26%, vegetables at 14% and industrial plants at 2%.
The structure of harvested land remained largely unchanged but with most plants, especially those that are mechanically harvested, significant increases in the harvest land was marked, especially with soy (66%), buckwheat (59%), triticale (40%), barley (27%), wheat and oilseed rape (18%) and peas (11%).
In 2016, 1.7 million tons of wheat was produced, 23,000 tons of oilseeds, 357,000 tons of vegetables, 37,000 tons of grapes, 59,000 tons of net meat, which is the largest increase in production in the last 10 years.
According to statistics about the number of cattle in 2016, the number of cows remained the same as last year at 455,000, while the number of milk-producing cows decreased by 17,000 or 6% compared to 2015.
Also, the number of pigs is 19,000 less. The number of sheep remained the same as last year at 1,016,000 while the number of processed sheep decreased by 9% compared to the previous year.
The total production of raw milk for 2016 was 701 million liters and remained at the same level as the previous year, while the purchase of raw milk was 236 million liters and is somewhat higher than last year. The net production of meat in 2016 was 86,000 ton and is 4% higher than last year, while the production of eggs totaled 689 million eggs and is 5% less compared to 2015.
Despite the fact that the number of beehives is 17,000 or 4% higher than last year, the production of honey in 2016 was 36% less than in 2015.
The percent of the labor force engaged in farming decreased by 2% and the part of the GDP attributable to agriculture decreased a bit compared to 2014, when it was 7.6%.
According to the information from the 2013 census, the total number of households that are agriculturalists is 363,394, of which 56,609 or 16% are commercial or market-oriented ones.
(Source: Klix.ba)
