MERSAD ŠUTKOVIĆ FOR RTCG: "AGRICULTURE IN ROŽAJE HAS A FUTURE"

The Secretary of the Secretariat for Agriculture, Tourism and Water Management, Mr. Mersad Šutković from the local administration of Rožaja, was a guest on the public TV service RTCG.

He answered the questions of journalists regarding the current state of agriculture and animal husbandry in the municipality of Rožaje and the plans of the local self-government to support this very important branch for the development of the municipality itself.

First of all, Šutković referred to the causes that led to the stagnation of agriculture and animal husbandry, namely the industrial revolution, which was a factor in the migration of residents from the countryside to the city, and the closure of large industrial systems and factories created an additional problem. The very collapse of the industry, the rural-urban migration, interrupted the tradition of farming, and huge financial resources are needed to restart that flywheel.

Sutkovic he further emphasizes that the local administration and its secretariat are doing everything in order to help the people in the countryside with their professional and legal advice to start farming and animal husbandry again and thus ensure their existence and stay in the countryside. Given that the local administration allocates certain funds for the development of agriculture, although they are modest and amount to €80,000 for this year, they have their effect and the interest in farming is increasing.

We provided support in the procurement of greenhouses, mechanization, mobile milking machines, construction of facilities for manure, laboratory analysis of soil, sampling of springs... In addition, symbolic awards were established for agricultural producers, says the secretary.

Sutkovic emphasized the visit of the Minister of Agriculture, Milutin Simović, from whom they received a promise to solve pressing problems, which is primarily the purchase of market surpluses, primarily when it comes to the purchase of milk. He further said that there are only two dairies in the territory of the municipality of Rožaje, whose capacities are not sufficient to purchase the entire amount of milk that is produced, and therefore the entire purchase network is not covered. Minister Simović promised that he would help one of those dairies in order to expand their capacities and create conditions for the purchase of whole quantities of milk that would certainly be processed into the final dairy product.

In addition, Šutković emphasized that the local administration has done a lot in the past period to improve infrastructure conditions such as roads and primary water supply networks, which is certainly a prerequisite for intensive development and staying in the countryside.

Also, an important segment for improving the conditions for dealing with animal husbandry and agriculture is the opening of new offices for the service for the selection of livestock and advisory services in plant production, because the current center located in Berane is quite far away, which requires more time to visit the mentioned center, which will be facilitated when such a service is established in Rožaje. This will be a new incentive for the development of agriculture in the municipality of Rožaje.

In addition, visits to local communities are based on the practice carried out by our secretariat, where in this way all important information reaches our farmers when it comes to public calls for incentive measures. Also, we are at their disposal in the development of all projects, all business plans, which in many ways facilitates the application, and I think that we are a unique municipality in Montenegro that functions in this way and meets agricultural producers.

When it comes to the future of animal husbandry and agriculture in the municipality of Rožaje, the secretary emphasizes that although animal husbandry is one of the most developed branches, agriculture occupies an increasingly better place and new farms based on plant production are being created. One of the advantages is that the land is not polluted with herbicides and pesticides, which creates conditions for the development of organic production, which the secretary emphasized. Also, the conditions for beekeeping in Rožaje are very good. We have also foreseen a measure of support for the provision of supporting equipment in beekeeping, which is also an important segment in encouraging and motivating for a better future in all the branches we talked about, concluded Šutković.

Written by: Mirza Luboder