Author: Denis Tahiri
"I raised my children with cattle and they keep me alive. I applied for the national small cattle scheme 2022. I have 40 of them. In the preliminary list it turned out that I was the winner, and before the elections a group of AZHBR called me to verify the declarations I had made on the form via e-albania. Then they came to the tent and paid special attention to the number of cattle I had placed. On May 20, I called the free public number of AZHBR to ask if the money had been sent to the beneficiary or not, and the operator replied that the money will be sent to me when the verifications are completed throughout the country.".
This is what Fatriu writes for "SINJALIZO", who introduces himself as a farmer from the villages of Lushnja, and under the concern that the support scheme is being delayed, the elderly person also raises other issues as long as his name is listed as a winner, but the financial support is not it seems close. "As a farmer, I express my displeasure because the fee per head is 10 ALL, while grass prices have increased. We need real help and not handouts. Second, the delay in throwing the money is excessive"- adds Fatriu, who remembers that he won support from the state for the second time, but that the family business of the cattle breeder has turned him and the family circle into conditions of survival and sacrifice. "I have no way to hire a shepherd, so almost every day of the year I am behind them, they are the only way I can support my family and raise my children's children” closes the complaint of the elderly person, whose name is published changed from "SINJALIZO". During the interview, he adds that with the money deposited in his bank account, he has planned to prepay the winter food he buys from his fellow villagers.
It turns out that about 9 farmers applied for this scheme, which compared to last year, there are 2 more citizens seeking help for subsidies in livestock. However, agriculture and animal husbandry continue to be an investment of the third age and not of the young. In the south of the country, in one of the villages on the border with Greece, one of the teenagers contacted by "SINJALIZO" confesses that he can't wait to leave. The teenager does not see himself connected to agriculture and livestock. In the houses that once hummed with the voices of their inhabitants, the buildings look like abandoned objects. Through the houses of the village, the traces of cattle stables, wooden structures, with roofs covered with soft fern plants, are still clearly visible. Once they served to keep thousands of animals, mainly sheep and goats.
T. H, 85 years old today, remembers that when the cooperative broke up and the animals were distributed to the villagers, each house received both goats and sheep. "We lost 8 sheep and 12 goats. says the old man.
"Everyone made their own stalls and a shepherd was appointed who was for a neighborhood in the village. Each neighborhood had its own shepherd, for the goats, while the sheep kept their own." he says, adding that there are now a total of 5 herds in the village, two with goats, two with sheep and one with cows.
According to the Institute of Statistics in 2021, the number of wool in Albania is 1,48 million heads. The main category of wool consists of dairy sheep with about 75,38%. Meanwhile, the number of animals in 2021 was 775,337 heads, where 77.26% of them are dairy goats. On the other hand, the number of pig heads was 159,237 heads.
For cattle breeding for the year 2021, the highest figure is in the district of Fier with 17.25% and Korça with 11,13% of the total number of heads. Meanwhile, the districts of Vlora and Korça have the highest number of woollens, respectively 23,74% and 16,51%.
Livestock through the decades
According to an article by gazetaAlxiptare.al In 1938, Albania had 54 horses, 10 mules, 391 cattle, 21 oxen, 1 sheep, and 574 goats. These figures, which in Albania in 932, are reported many times less.
The fact that the livestock sector is already in crisis is no longer something that can be discussed. In 2017, 475 cattle were counted in our country, meanwhile, a year later in the statistics, a decrease of 8 cattle would be noticed. While the year 2019 would mark another reduction, but this time with a much larger figure, where in total compared to 2018, 51 thousand fewer cattle would be counted. Almost the same pace would be followed in 2020, where the country lost another 53 thousand cattle. Meanwhile, from 2020 to 2021, another decrease of 26 thousand would be recorded.
A similar trend is also seen in wool, where from 1.925.000 in 2017, the figure would drop to 1.480.000 in 2021. This figure means that the country has lost a full 445 thousand wool heads. There is also a decrease in the number of goats in the country, where in 000 2017 goats were officially reported, while in 933 the number would decrease to 000, where within 2021 years, 775 fewer goats would be counted in the country.
The only ones showing an increase from 2017 to 2021 are beehives. In 2017, there were only 290 beehives in Albania, while in 000, this number has increased to 2021.
Experts: The wrong policy is being followed
"The first reason is, for me, the incentive policy that was oriented towards large farms at a time when we are a country with an 80% livestock surplus and we have land conditions and such an economy that we can have in our territory 10 or 20 large farms for the characteristics, for the small amount of land, and if an analysis was done with experts in the field, it turns out that we should also support surplus livestock". says the former head of the Farmers' Union, Eduart Sharka. He further adds that the farmer who keeps 2 cows should also be supported, because in his opinion livestock farming has a uniqueness, it must have optimal quantities and be profitable. "A farmer who keeps two cows, has 2 hectares of land, sows wheat, but uses the straw for the cows". says the expert, giving a concrete example.
Mr. Sharka says that the fiscal policy is also wrong. According to him, collectors are no longer interested in buying from farmers since they buy the product with zero VAT and sell the by-products they extract from milk with VAT, which is taxed on the turnover. According to him, this brought a change of course. "This taxation violates the VAT law, it violates the constitution, it is unfair taxation. Today, the market of agricultural and livestock products is 90% informal due to the VAT mistake. Only because of the blunder and what surprises us a lot and is worrying is that we said that if VAT is equalized, the state budget wins. Those subsidies he will give, he gets from the formalization of this sector".
But a factor that is significantly affecting the number of cattle and small animals in Albania is also the reluctance of the young generation to deal with agriculture. "The generation that was engaged in cattle breeding grew old, but a young person does not want to engage in it because at the moment it is an unsafe business, not subsidized by the state", he says, adding that in Albania you have to become a shepherd, live in the mountains and sell milk below cost. "Even if you are killed by cattle, no one will subsidize you. "Macedonia, which is the closest, in case of a crisis in the market, where the supply is greater than the demand, the state buys it at the average market price in order not to disconnect livestock farmers". he concludes.
Even Kapllan Sulaj, a professor at the Agricultural University of Tirana, agrees that there are no young or middle-aged people who can deal with livestock, to breed small animals and not to keep them in non-extensive or natural growth herds.
"Dealing with small things means that you will spend part of your life outside, staying in stables, you will stay outside the house, while dealing with cows, you can carry out activities that are close to the family". he says, adding that cattle in Albania do not roam, but are mostly kept on farms. For the professor, another influencing factor is the lack of credit in this sector. But tourism is also another factor that has had an impact according to him.
"It is that consumption has increased, for example In the coastal area during the summer where there are more tourists, consumption has increased", says Mr. Sulaj, adding that support for young people who want to become part of this sector should start at 100 euros.
