Bujanovac – Miroslav Aleksic, a member of the Committee for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, said after the meeting with Saip Kamberi, the Mayor of Bujanovac, that the municipality had the potential for developing agriculture.

“I took the opportunity to visit several agricultural households in Bujanovac and I must say that what I've seen shows that there is potential for the development of agriculture in this part of Serbia. And that the people should get employed by ensuring their existence through agriculture,” Mr. Aleksic said. 

He also said that he himself was until recently the mayor of "an agricultural municipality where over 60% of the population is engaged in agriculture" and that he was experienced in developing  vegetable and fruit-growing. "

"I'd like to have some projects, which we have implemented, transferred to Bujanovac."

“We now have the 2020 IPARD program at out disposal, under which 175 million euros of funds for agricultural development were earmarked for Serbia: That refers to as many as 70% of non-refundable funds, which is very important for those who want to get engaged in agriculture, so that they may get the initial financial resources for starting agricultural production.  In the municipalities such as Bujanovac, where the unemployment rate is over 50%, it is very important to find a way to employ people, "said Mr. Aleksic.

"I'll be happy to come here, while the municipal leaders of Trstenik will always be good hosts, so that we could exchange experiences and try to achieve some results by ourselves, as well as get timely information from the European funds, the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the competent ministry on what our farmers could use, " Mr. Aleksic said.  

Saip Kamberi, the Mayor of Bujanovac, said that he had discussed with Mr. Aleskic the exchange of experiences in the development of agriculture.

“The municipality of Trstenik, from which our guest comes, acquired the experience through the financial assistance, subsidies and the provision of grants to farmers. We want something similar to take place in our community next year. This was the first meeting and I hope we’ll have the opportunity to become more familiar with all those projects, and that Mr. Aleksic provides his experience to us, as well as the experience of his municipality, so that we could transfer them to our community and generate new jobs for our citizens through the subsidizing of agriculture, "said Mr. Kamberi.

Source: Jugpress and Coordination Body