We have already entered that cycle during which the promises of political parties, in government or in opposition, explode to an unimaginable level. Albanians have heard such things regularly over the past decades. The same is happening on the eve of the May 11 elections. The left and the right are doing "be and ruffe" to return the dignity to Albanian farmers.
"The offers that political parties make during election periods are not unknown. It's not that these promises made now haven't been made before," said Agim Rrapaj.
The Socialist Party, in government for 12 years, promises to increase the budget for agriculture to 500 million euros in its fourth mandate, while the Democratic Party in opposition pledges to 5 times the budget for the sector where almost half of the population works and lives.
"It is promised high amounts of funding, but without specifying where this money will be found. At the moment where we are currently, with EU funds suspended, we have seen, we have seen that from year to year the value of support schemes in agriculture has decreased," says Esmeralda Ballesha.
Vote in exchange for a promise. This is how the relationship between political parties works, which offer an electoral program, while citizens decide by voting, choosing the best offer. But in terms of agriculture, even the promises of small or new parties do not seem convincing.
"Which seem to have more specific points about how they will intervene in the agricultural sector. But even these promises are far from the needs that the sector has. Some of them seem recycled from the past," Ballesha adds.
So what does agriculture need in the next 4 years in particular?
"We are particularly concerned about cooperation. We have over 71 percent of unregistered farmers. We aim to enter the EU, but we cannot do it with this agricultural model," adds Rrapaj.
Being big doesn't always mean you have an advantage. The best example in the country is agriculture. Its contribution to the economy is over 16 percent of the total, but the sector receives only 1.9 percent of the State Budget.
"I wrote an article in the 2000s where I said that agriculture is like the work of a cow that is milked three times a day and fed only once. This cow, in this case agriculture, is destined to die," says expert Zef Gjeta. (A2 Televizion)
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