After 63 years in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the census of agriculture, one of the most important sectors of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economy, will finally be carried out. It is planned that the census will be realized in the last quarter of this year. The funds were approved by the Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the list will involve experts from numerous fields in agriculture so that everything is done in accordance with international standards and recommendations.
The agricultural census will be conducted by three statistical institutions, the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Office of the Republic of Srpska, and it will collect about 400 of the most important indicators and variables.
MIRSADA ADEMBEGOVIĆ, Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina
“Data will be collected on used agricultural land for all types of crops. Data will be collected on the number of livestock by species and categories and what we did not have until now, namely data on the workforce, data on organic agriculture, irrigation and agricultural methods production”.
The agricultural sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina is characterized by a large number of small farms, which also contribute significantly to the country’s GDP. The lack of reliable agricultural and cadastral data makes the development of any agricultural development policy and strategy extremely difficult.
SAVO MINIĆ, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republika Srpska
“The list is extremely important for a number of reasons. When we plan certain measures, when we want to improve a certain type of agricultural production, when we want to influence in a certain way where we can in a real support, we must have exactly that real data from the field”.
Farmers have been advocating and asking for a census for years. In order to know what we have at our disposal, but also to prevent numerous frauds with incentives and to finally be able to access EU funds, for which the list is the main prerequisite. On both of these grounds, millions, if not tens of millions of marks are lost annually.
STOJAN MARINKOVIĆ, President of the Association of Associations of Agricultural Producers of the Republika Srpska
“We believe that we will prevent these frauds, which will save significant funds in the agricultural budget, which we estimate could be around ten million BAM”.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in Europe that does not have basic structural data on agriculture. The last census was conducted in 1960 in the former SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. After several years of negotiations, an agreement was reached on the agricultural census. We will count the livestock, but we will still have to wait for the population census that was supposed to be conducted in 2023.
