Farmers protest, spill milk in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Pristina

Kosovo dairy farmers have protested at the Ministry of Agriculture, expressing their dissatisfaction with the policies and situation in the dairy sector.

"Don't leave us without bread", "Don't touch jobs", "Don't weaken the local industry", and other banners, dairy farmers have protested in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, demanding that milk collection begin urgently, as milk collection has been temporarily banned for four days now, preceding the temporary closure of the Vita dairy.

The representative of the Dairy Farmers' Association, Fidan Krasniqi, said that they have been knocking on the doors of the ministry for a year regarding the situation, demanding that measures be taken.

"We have gathered in front of the Ministry of Agriculture as an association of milk producers in support of our farmers, our membership, collection points, all stakeholders, interest groups because we are producers of this country and we produce milk, for this country, for this population.

For a year now, we have been knocking on the doors of the state, informing the relevant ministries about the situation in this sector and demanding that measures be taken to guarantee investments and the safety of our products so that we have equal competition and not imports at subsidized prices from Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia and the entire region. You are all witnesses to these products and you accuse us of why those products are sold on our shelves at very cheap prices," said the representative of the Dairy Association.

He added that today it has been four days since they delivered the milk.

"Therefore, we urgently request this because the local producer is in an unenviable situation, today it has been four days since we have had nowhere to deliver the milk. Most of these producers were farmers who delivered the milk to the "Vita" dairy, it is true. But, one thing the people should know, Vita milk is from Kosovo, it is not from Serbia."

"Our urgent request is to begin collecting milk from this moment, we ask the Government to urgently stop imports from countries in the region at dumping prices, why are importers favored and not producers, how long will this practice continue, let's make policies and resolve this issue once and for all," he said, among other things.

"Cows are not taps. We cannot stop them from producing today, and wait until the right moment. Most of these farmers, who you see with these agricultural tools, are mired in loans that they must pay. Let's not play with their dignity. We urgently demand a meeting and a solution to this problem once and for all, why not reach out to this minister, that minister or that minister," he said.

Meanwhile, Kushtrim Tigani, representative of the "Vita" dairy, has requested that the results of the analyses be released as soon as possible.

"As the largest dairy in Kosovo, we collect over 50% of Kosovo's milk. All these farmers bring over 100 thousand liters of milk to us per day. Some Facebook soldiers who are coming out and smearing this hardworking farmer and all those farmers who produce milk and process milk, I call on the Minister of Agriculture, the AUV to come up with the results they have found for the presence of powdered milk as soon as possible, because there is no powdered milk, and they know that there is no powdered milk, let them come up with the results as soon as possible, even for milk analysis "Vita" needs weeks of analysis to come up with the results"

The decision to organize the protest was made by the Kosovo Dairy Farmers Association, which considered the protest necessary following the cessation of the collection of fresh milk from farms, a situation that, according to them, seriously endangers the existence of many local producers.

The protest also comes after the temporary closure of the "Vita" milk processing factory in Istog, following an action by the authorities.

Through the protest, they demand that institutions take immediate measures to overcome the crisis and have presented three main demands:

-immediate resumption of the collection of fresh milk from farms;

– urgent publication of analysis results, in order to remove doubts about the quality of local products;

– the restoration of the previous price of milk, emphasizing that the price reduction is driving many farms towards bankruptcy.

After the protest, the acting Minister of Agriculture, Armend Muja, received several representatives of the farmers in a meeting./Monitor