Domestic meat production cannot keep up with market needs. In the first six months, a deficit of 245 million marks was reported due to the lack of coverage of imports by exports. Together, the agricultural and food industry sectors are in a deficit of about two billion marks.
Meat imports are growing year after year. In the first seven months alone, according to data from the Foreign Trade Chamber, Bosnia and Herzegovina spent more than 381 million KM on imports, while exports amounted to only about 30 million KM.
“We import much more than we export. Practically, we export nothing. Personally, I don’t know what we could export, because here the entire agricultural production is based on imports. Production is decreasing year after year. Fattening farms have been shut down, this is production that is on the verge of extinction,” points out Nedžad Bićo, president of the Association of Agricultural Producers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Economists emphasize that this ratio of imports and exports further worsens the trade balance and endangers domestic farmers. There is potential for the development of livestock farming, but producers cannot compete with large quantities and lower prices from abroad.
“For years, even decades, we have had the wrong types of incentives. We had an arrangement with Turkey on the export of meat from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it was done in a very bad way. In practice, we did not actually export our meat, but were allowed to import livestock and immediately turn it into meat in Bosnia and Herzegovina and export it. And that is not the right solution,” warns economic analyst Igor Gavran.
Semberja livestock farmers say that due to the agricultural policy implemented in that region alone, more than 10,000 production farms have been closed in the past five years.
“For many years we have been talking about protecting domestic production, about some things that are essential for producers, but we are not getting an answer from these politicians. And these days they are interested in armchairs and how they will raise the price of electricity, and food will also come into the picture very soon and they will have to understand that a bottle of water cannot be more expensive than a liter of milk,” says Savo Bakajlić, president of the Association of Agricultural Producers of Semberija and Majevica.
It is necessary, they state, to build a clear strategy for the development of agriculture and livestock, to invest in quality, modern technologies and standards that comply with EU rules. In this way, Bosnia and Herzegovina could regulate its own market, better connect producers and consumers, and open the door to exports to foreign markets, offering quality domestic products and specialties.
