If a serious agrarian policy were to be created and implemented, in five years Montenegro could have an annual food production worth a billion euros in which ten thousand citizens could work and earn good money, said the agronomist and former director of the Cooperative in an interview for "Vijesti". Agrocombinata "13. jul" and the author of studies and projects in agriculture Svetozar Radonjić, now the owner of the company "Agrovita Eco".
"According to my data, we have about 700 thousand hectares of agricultural land. From one hectare, according to the studies I have done, it is possible to secure an income of 4.000 euros. If we were to cultivate only half of that, i.e. 350 thousand hectares, that is possible 1,4 .XNUMX billion euros in revenue. I think that with a quality agricultural policy, hard work and the resolution of current barriers, in five years the annual food production of one billion euros could be reached. That is twice as much as the current food imports. I dream of the day, and I know that "It will not be a dream for agricultural production to be the most significant part of Montenegro's GDP. I think that even now it is much more than eight percent of GDP, as estimated," Radonjić said.
Montenegro annually imports food for almost 500 million euros. Millions also spend on tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, meat, milk, cheese, eggs... Can it be produced in Montenegro in sufficient quantity, that there is enough of it, that it is of good quality and that the prices can be competitive?
Montenegro was and will be an agrarian country. Previously, it was said that only bananas can grow in Montenegro, and now they have started to grow. With our production, we can fully meet the needs for importing tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, onions, eggs, fish, chicken, sheep, goat, beef, and even pork. Many dispute the possibility of pork production in Montenegro for overall needs, I say that it is possible and that we worked on it when I was the director of Mesopromet.
We can do this by following the example of pig breeding in Spain for the production of pâté negra prosciutto - a kilogram of which costs at least 100 euros. These are free-range pigs that mostly feed on acorns from nature. One household can raise 200 pigs per year on ten hectares, half of which would be arable land and the other part forest. The guaranteed income would be 40 euros, and if that household also produced piglets and dried meat, the income would be twice as high. They could produce up to 400 thousand pieces of prosciutto, and the leg should not be less than 15 kilograms. That's the standard. It must have more fat than the current one, which is made from an immature young pig.
We now have the most modern factories for meat processing, but we don't have the raw materials. We can also produce wheat and meet 30 percent of our needs, which is about 30 thousand tons. We should sow our large wheat or spelled, which is gluten-free and a hit in the world. Our peasants have been growing it for centuries. Climatic differences from the south to the north of Montenegro are its comparative advantages for food production. My colleagues and I were the first to produce salad in Žabljak and sell it in Podgorica, because it does not tolerate temperatures above 20 degrees.
In the 80s, you were the director of "Agrokombinat 13. Juli", what was the food production then and how many agricultural products were sold outside Montenegro? Could such a thing be possible again?
At that time, we organized the production of vegetables, according to official data only in Zeta and Malaysia in the amount of 30.000 tons.
At that time, five thousand hectares were cultivated in Zeta, three thousand hectares in Malaysia. We supplied the market of Croatia and Slovenia with vegetables to a significant extent. The production and sale of tomatoes alone was worth ten million euros in today's prices. And now we import tomatoes for 5,7 million. At the Zagreb wholesale market, "Montenegro tomato" was a brand. We even reached Vienna with product placement. Dalmatian tourism could not be imagined without our vegetables.
Our biggest competition was the Macedonians, however, no one could compete with the quality of the "Montenegro tomato". Our prices were 30 to 40 percent higher than others.
And today we import tomatoes from those countries that are green inside. I warn consumers and decision-makers that we are poisoning the people because the green is poisonous. It is a glycoside solanine which is poisonous. I have nothing against the import lobby, and I agree that something should be imported if its quality and price are better than our product, but this tomato is poisonous and of poor quality.
We achieved these successful results because we created a good agrarian policy, most importantly, we equalized the peasants - food producers with other workers in Montenegro. We supported peasants, subcontractors to join cooperatives and basic organizations of subcontractors. These associations had the same status as other economic extensions. The state at that time had to respect them willingly and often unwillingly. Naturally, because they benefited her.
Fragmentation of agricultural land is mentioned as a barrier to agricultural development. How much agricultural land does Montenegro have, and how much of it is arable? What can be done to increase the amount of arable land and how to consolidate agricultural areas?
The biggest problem is the fragmentation and neglect of agricultural plots, which affects the soul of the ministry and the land owners.
All over Europe, land is cultivated. There is a law on agricultural land that we also have, but it is not enforced. Construction and destruction of agricultural land is an anti-state act. For centuries, our ancestors tried to remove the karst so that more land could be cultivated, and now it is concreted. Our association proposes the so-called "quiet compaction", consolidation and expansion of agricultural land. The owner of the land would be obliged to cultivate it, and if he could not, he would be obliged to sell it or lease it to the first tenant.
Unfortunately, the state has not yet started to do that. The government should provide funds for that fund. That's how they work in Europe. For the purchase of land for the expansion of agricultural land, a loan is provided for 20 years with a ten-year grace period and without interest. All those investments in Montenegro would not exceed 100 million euros, and we would get agricultural producers with larger, economically profitable areas. Then we could produce wheat and corn and vegetables and meat. That is the key problem.
That investment will return to the state very quickly. The state takes that much from VAT on food. Food imports for the year are 500 million.
Whichever government has the guts to do it, it has finished the job.
What do you think about the IPARD project and the money received from the EU under strict conditions? Can our farmers fulfill them?
Significant funds were not used last year. The ministry will not give us the reasons, that is, they usually do not respond to requests. The one who created the basis for us to withdraw funds from the EU copied from the EU. We are neither better nor worse than the EU, but we are different. We have our own potentials, our own differences and our own way of production. The main question is whether we have an agrarian policy at all. It should be the core and basis of every state policy. Maybe we have it, but it is not adapted to our conditions, it is dictated by the EU. Is it good, will our peasants accept the EU, I claim that they will not. I have been farming for 45 years and am a recognized expert in my field. I did not sit in the cabinet like the advisors of Minister Simović (Milutin), but I was in the field, with farmers and producers, and I learned every day.
The main problem is the disastrous bureaucratic vocabulary. Nobody understands that dictionary. Not even those who wrote it. In order to receive funds from IPARD, these terms and regulations need to be interpreted somehow. As if someone was deliberately working to make our farmers hate the EU.
We are forced to sign all contracts and now the question is how independent we are. We signed that we have no borders, and they say export. How can we export food now, when our hands and feet are tied. How can we compete with someone who has a subsidy of 60 percent of the price. If you resist, they will bomb you from above.
Innovation is at a very low level in this industry.
There are many barriers, from politics to sharing market stalls
What other barriers to the development of agriculture and more significant food production do you see?
There are many barriers. It can be stated with certainty that there is no consistent agrarian policy in Montenegro. And that is the most important business barrier.
Montenegro is the country with the most agricultural land per capita in Europe, the country with the most uncultivated land per capita, the country with the most imported food per capita and the country with the most employed agronomists and agricultural technicians per capita in Europe. They do everything but their work. No one indoctrinated them to be professionals, to learn. Food production is complicated, we can even say that it is more complex than medicine. No two days are the same, no two climates are the same, protective means and artificial fertilizers are not exactly what it says on the bag... And now the peasant - the martyr has to struggle, he has to examine, try, learn from his success and failure.
A big problem is the way the green markets work, there is corruption and imported goods. Only the eligible get the best seats. Our association plans to launch an initiative with the minister and the mayor of the municipality that only registered agricultural producers who will sell their goods can get stalls at the green markets. As well as visibly marking imported products in markets and shops.
The conditions are more difficult than during the Turkish empire, there were small duties on the markets and that country took care to preserve production.
The lack of professional labor is also a big problem. In my opinion, you can count all the experts in Montenegro on the fingers of one hand.
Our peasants are poisoned by politics. They have a terrible ambition for their children to work for the government, that is, to do nothing and be "gentlemen". Such people will never return to the village. In Zeta, oil smuggling in the 90s destroyed production. People earned more money with easier work and gave up agriculture.
It is a big problem that some of our experts from the Belgrade School of Economics see Montenegro as karst and brambles, that is, that there is no future in agriculture. We have more agricultural land per inhabitant than Serbia.
It is a big problem that we are small, and an even bigger problem is that we reduce ourselves. We present ourselves as a tourist and service force. We cannot have elite tourism on potatoes from France, tomatoes from Turkey, meat from Holland, spices from Italy and flour from Ukraine.
Corona increased the hope that there will be a return to the village, but he is not optimistic
One of the conditions for the development of agriculture is the return to the village. What needs to be done to make that happen?
If you had asked me during the period when there were movement bans due to the coronavirus epidemic, what was the perspective of returning to the countryside, I would have said that every bad thing brings something good, and then that good thing was that people would return to the countryside. But as measures fell and cafes returned, no one returned to the village, everyone returned to cafes.
Do we have expert farmers and workers?
Workers in agriculture are not manual laborers but highly skilled workers, we must protect them because they are a light to other people. When all the agricultural areas are cultivated, 10 thousand people can be employed on the farms. These workers must not have an income of less than one thousand euros.
A skilled worker cannot be expensive. If a hectare of tomatoes gives us a minimum of 30 tons, if we multiply that by 50 cents, and the price is much higher, that is 15 thousand euros. The tomato production process takes four months. The labor force's share in those costs would be only 20 percent. In the EU, the labor force's share in costs is over 30 percent. In the EU, greenhouse production is five square meters per capita, in our country, according to my estimation, because the official statistics are unreliable, it is about 200 square meters.
Bonus video:
