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| Met Salliu and his wheat harvested this year |
At the scorching temperatures of the village of Plug in Lushnjë, the wheat, now dried and ready for market, remains stocked in the open field.
Farmers say that if it rains even for a day, their entire production is damaged. They affirm that this year they increased the cultivation of wheat, but the price has fallen by 50%, and now they are facing losses rather than profits, as the harvest remains unsold, Monitor reports.
Met Salliu, from the village of Plug in Lushnjë, told "Monitor" that the process of harvesting and threshing wheat has just finished, and from 100 hectares of planted land, he obtained 500 tons of wheat. Salliu expresses concern that the selling price is nearly 50% below cost, and he has all the production in the field unsold.
"I had expected to get around 50 tons of wheat per hectare, and now the price of wheat in the market with the collectors is around 27-28 lekë per kg, which is not even enticing. I have all the wheat in stock here in the field; I haven't sold a single kilogram out of the 500 tons."
Due to the significant increase in the price of cereals in foreign markets last year, influenced by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Ministry of Agriculture encouraged farmers with direct subsidies of 30,000 lekë per hectare to increase the cultivated areas.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, a total of 4,000 farmers were supported with subsidies.
Mr. Salliu claims that due to the government's encouragement and the high price of wheat last year, farmers expanded their cultivation this year.
"We cultivated around 100 hectares of wheat land, using Italian seeds. We sow every year, but this year we sowed more due to the government's encouragement, promising us subsidies, relief, and many other things. Even though the yields weren't very high due to the weather's impact."
Reducing the price will cause the farmer about 40,000 euros in losses.
"I am operating below production cost because I spent around 180,000 euros, and with the market value of 27-28 lekë per kilogram of wheat that I produced, it adds up to around 140,000 euros. I'm losing 40,000 euros. I'm a distinguished farmer who got 50 tons per hectare, while other farmers only got around 30 tons per hectare. As you can see, the crop remains unsold."
Salliu mentions that the support with subsidies and free fuel amounts to only 5% of his invested cost, which is around 300,000 lekë.
"I received subsidies for 10 hectares of land, worth 300,000 lekë, and 906 liters of fuel. I'm waiting for another bill to see if I received it or not. That's what I got from the government this year."
Disheartened by the situation, the farmer says that he plans to abandon agriculture next year and leave the country.
"Our plan for next year is to gather our tools and leave. If I don't sell the tools, I'll take them with me and work abroad because at least selling there is guaranteed. The government isn't to blame for my production or the collectors. If I don't produce, no one's at fault." Salliu expresses his disappointment.
Will the government buy the wheat for its reserves?
Due to the high increase in the price of cereals in foreign markets last year, influenced by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Ministry of Agriculture encouraged farmers with direct subsidies of 30,000 lekë per hectare to increase the cultivated areas.
But when all this support was at risk of backfiring, as the price of wheat in foreign markets began to drop below production cost, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in a meeting with milling companies, urged them to buy domestic wheat as the primary choice for their flour mills and bread production.
"We agreed together that, in this harvesting season, we will give priority to support local production and our farmers, who have listened to us and turned towards wheat production during the past season," earlier stated the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Frida Krifca.
Now, when the amount of domestically collected wheat by milling companies is very low, the Ministry of Agriculture is considering raising the price of wheat in foreign markets as a quick solution for Albanian farmers due to the risk of Russia's withdrawal from the Adriatic Sea Agreement.
The Director General of Agriculture Policies and Programs, Food Safety and Rural Development, Irfan Tarelli, stated to "Monitor" that state institutions are monitoring the price trends of wheat every day in the local market and especially in foreign markets.
Regarding the measures for wheat collection by state institutions or its purchase by farmers for state reserves, until market stabilization, which is also being implemented by North Macedonia, the Director of the General Directorate of Rural Development stated that they are conditioned by financial impossibility.
"Wheat is not a crop with a competitive advantage because it is subject to economies of scale. Moreover, many farmers in the country are forced to plant wheat due to soil typology in specific areas, as they cannot cultivate other crops. The rest is planted for self-consumption and animal feed.
The special subsidization measure came after the Russian attack on Ukraine, which caused an immediate increase in the price of cereals but also product shortages.
Faced with this situation, we followed the subsidy policies that were also implemented by many other countries, to stimulate production among farmers who were affected by high costs and to maintain food independence."