Edmira Toska from the village of Ferras in Divjaka, for 10 years has to cope alone with all the farm chores. Her older parents have taught her how to be a lady farmer.
“Now I am cutting the cabbage. I can do any job men do. Nothing is impossible,” says Edmira.
But what seems impossible for Toska, is to keep her farm products in competition with the those from the import market, as milk and meat come in at lower prices.
“Now I’m getting cabbage for cows because we are short on food. Livestock need fresh food to give more yield,” says the farmer.
Farmers seem vulnerable to import products, as once Edmira had 120 head of cattle in this stable, while today there are less than 60.
Edmira adds that she has benefited from the Ministry of Agriculture only 500,000 ALL subsidies through the National Scheme, a sum that is negligible in the face of the needs of the farm.
“The product we produce is not sold at its real price. A liter of milk 3 years ago was 380 Lek, now it is 450-480 Lek. While the largest farms sell it for 600 Lek.
“I do not even know why this difference is,” she said. The woman adds that the costs of milk production have doubled, but despite this the price remains the same. Pasteurized milk coming from Serbia currently costs 14 cents less, and this price difference makes large traders prefer milk from Serbia instead of Albanian milk.
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