Year of Family Farming

The British Chamber in Albania in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Management with the support of Credins Bank organized a one day forum on Empowerment of the Family Farming.

2014 has been declared as the year of the Family Farming and our aim is to facilitate information on the opportunities that farming brings for employment and developments as well as to inform participants on the funding available from donors and banks as well as on the Government priorities.

The Day of “International Year of Family Farming” is a platform for discussion, communication and collaboration between different stakeholders on topics related to family farming in Albania.

Mr. Hoxha, President of the Chamber on his opening remarks valued the great work of the new team in the Ministry and confirmed the support and cooperation in the years to come. He emphasized that the achievements and the program that the Ministry is implementing have created optimized for the potentials of the Agribusiness as well as investment climate.

During his speech the Minister Panariti expressed the vision of the Ministry, the measurement to insure its implementation but above all the dedication of its Ministry to add value to the Albanian production by going organic as well as processing the products. This year the agro exports have increased already by 14%, which are the first signs of success in strategies.

The Head of Agriculture Department at Credins Bank Mrs.  Karapanco portrayed the development opportunities at the agriculture sector from the investors point of view, as Credins Bank prides itself of been ‘a partner to the agribusiness not a just another lender’. The bank has developed a set of products to support the development of the agribusiness and is aiming at further developing the portfolio. There will be other information and open forums organized with the British Chamber and the ministry in specific cities to enable the farmers direct access to financial support.

The representative of the USAID funded project CBS brought to the intentions of the participants an important factor which prevents many farmers assess to finances: the ability to prepare reliable business plans. Such issue it is been addressed by many donors and eventually the farmers will understand that while some sort of support is and will always be available for free by Government and other institutions, other more specialized services are fee payable.

You will be able to read here full speech of Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Management -> read more …