prijava
SARAJEVO, February 6 (FENA) - BiH Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Staša Košarac, said at a press conference after the session of the BiH Council of Ministers that the Information on improving the capacity of agricultural advisory services in BiH was discussed and adopted today.
“We believe that BiH has its own development opportunity in the field of agricultural development, and from this point of view we consider it very important that advisory services should be developed, given that BiH should be prepared for IPARD (Instrument for Pre-Accession in Rural Development) funds that are very important for agricultural development,” said Minister Košarac.
He added that they discussed extending the capacity of advisory services today, as statistics show that 50 to 60 farmers come to one counselor in EU countries.
“Unfortunately, close to 800 to 900 farmers come to one counselor in our country. We believe that our services in the Entities and the Brčko District have their capacities, but that from this point of view we must definitely use other, missing funds in order to use the advisory services in the agricultural sector in the best possible way, in order to prepare the agricultural community in BiH in a quality way so it can be prepared for IPARD funds,” Košarac said.
He noted that the assessment in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and the Council of Ministers of BiH refers to the fact that it is necessary to bring the legislation closer to the European acquis and will act in this direction, together with the entity ministries and the sub-committee for agriculture in the Brčko District.
Minister Košarac states that, in accordance with the Law on Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, the Ministry will endeavor to coordinate advisory bodies.
“We believe that we should encourage them and in this context it is necessary to move closer to using IPARD funds for agricultural development as soon as possible, through changing the legislation and strengthening advisory bodies in BiH,” said Minister Košarac.
He spoke with the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH yesterday and said that "about EUR 21 million will be available to the agricultural sector in BiH this year".
“From this point of view, we are talking about the importance of agriculture as perhaps one of the top sectors in BiH,” Košarac stated.
(FENA) A. B.
