In the production chain from the producer to the final consumer – no one is satisfied. Farmers on the edge of existence. Purchase prices are miserable, production is unprofitable, and on the other hand, citizens in stores face constant price increases.
Purchase prices of milk threaten this production. Exports stand still. Farms on the verge of collapse. In the Semberija area alone, more than 80% of farms have reduced or completely shut down production.
“There are no more exports from Bosnia. Serbia used to take a lot of milk from us, however, the milk is no longer going anywhere. The milk was stopped, and then the dairies, with the help of buyers, stopped everything,” says farmer Petar Dragojlović.
“We don’t have any profitability, and the biggest problem is that the purchase price is decreasing and falling, while the price of milk in markets is increasing,” adds farmer Radenko Arsenović.
While domestic farmers are wasting milk due to the inability to market, a variety of goods are being imported. Farmers claim that dairies refuse to buy their milk, under the pretext that it contains aflatoxin, despite their checks and analyzes showing otherwise.
“That aflatoxin doesn’t exist, and that’s all because large quantities of milk were imported. And let’s say that milk is natural, but it’s not cow’s milk, it’s imported coconut milk that cost 15 dinars in Serbia. That milk is picked up from Serbia, brought to us where it is sold, and the price of our milk of exceptional quality drops,” explains farmer Radenko Arsenović.
“Is it possible that in one day the entire Semberija has aflatoxin, and until then no one had it?!” asks farmer Petar Dragojlović.
Someone’s goal, the farmers say, is to completely destroy domestic production.
“We cannot resist excessive imports in this way because we are not competitive. We are threatened in our sectors. The figures in the Foreign Chamber of Commerce are disastrous, but no one looks back on it. People sat down in armchairs. Staša Košarac has been around for a long time and has not done anything to protect domestic production. We don’t need such a minister,” says Savo Bakajlić, president of the Association of Agricultural Producers of Semberija and Majevica.
Dissatisfied farmers sent an open letter to the entity and state ministries in which they stated their demands. They demand an urgent meeting and the protection of domestic production, otherwise, they say, they will demand the dismissal of relevant ministers.
