FEDERAL MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, WATER MANAGEMENT AND FORESTRY HRNJIĆ VISITS AUTHORITIES AND FARMERS OF ZENICA-DOBOJ CANTON

SARAJEVO, JULY 17 (ONASA) – Federal Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry Kemal Hrnjić today started his first official visit to the Zenica-Doboj Canton with a meeting with the Prime Minister of that canton, Amra Mehmedić, and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Vinko Marić.
Hrnjić, after the meeting at the headquarters of the ZDK institutions, together with the cantonal line minister Marić, will also visit some companies from the food industry and agricultural producers from that canton.
– We talked about many topics. The Prime Minister put forward certain theses, which are problematic – not only for ZDK but for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when it comes to the FBiH Forest Law.
We all agreed that it is very necessary, that the forests in the FBiH, as one of the most important resources of our country, are threatened by the absence of a law since 2009, and this government will have a very big responsibility to bring that law into the parliamentary procedures and to lobby everyone parliamentary representatives, in both houses of the federal parliament. That this law be adopted; to start applying it on the ground, because it would be essential for the preservation of FBiH forests and their functions – Minister Hrnjić said after this meeting in a statement to the media.
A lot of problems in the field, among which are frequent floods, come “precisely because of non-rational management of forests in FBiH”.
– The most important thing, what we concluded, is that we will be organized in such a way as to synchronize incentive measures in agricultural production. What is going on from the FBiH level, from the cantonal level… we agreed that it must be much more coordinated than it was in previous years.
Therefore, what the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina promotes should not be promoted by the canton and vice versa. We talked about it and the Prime Minister gave full support to such thinking and I will be glad to cooperate in the future in the way we agreed today, at this meeting – said Minister Hrnjić.
Cantonal Minister Marić thanked his colleague from the federal level for this visit, during which he will also visit the “Madi” Meat Industry from Tešnj, where he will also have a meeting with representatives of the association of agricultural producers and veterinary stations; on the way back, they will also visit the dairy cow farm “Pranjaš” and the pig farm of the Đureinović agricultural holding in Žepč.
With a visit to the representatives and members of the Association of Raspberry Growers and Beekeepers Željezno Polje near Žepče, the delegation of the federal ministry will conclude its visit to ZDK.
– The goal of the visit is to familiarize our agricultural producers with the measures taken by the federal and cantonal governments and the incentives we will give to those agricultural producers. There is a lot of room for improvement in agriculture, in all branches, but, at the end of the day, we have to tell the truth – which one agricultural producer told me – that the biggest incentives in Europe are here, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – emphasized Marić.
Due to the weather conditions – a two-month rainy period and, now, extremely high temperatures and droughts, this year is “very difficult for farmers”, but a way will be sought to “help agricultural producers from reserves”.
A much lower purchase price for the purchase of raspberries compared to last year, in which ZDK is the leading producer in BiH, Marić announced, will be the subject of discussions with the federal minister in order to find a solution.
– That it be a guaranteed price and that the people who raised the plantations no longer end up in the situation of destroying them. Likewise, I must say that this year, at the cantonal level, we provided 600,000 BAM for the incentive of raspberry growing, and last year it was 320,000 BAM – pointed out Marić.