Farmers from the southeast who are involved in apple cultivation have protested on the road axis Korçë – Pogradec. According to them, the cause of this protest is the non-sale of nearly 20,000 tons of apples from the previous year’s production. This came after large quantities of apples from Serbia and Greece entered the Albanian market.

“I am a farmer in the area of ​​Maliqi, I have 4 hectares of apples, two thousand quintals of apples and I haven’t sold nearly 20% of the apples. I have the rest in stock. We have gathered because Serbia and Greece have blocked us from selling apples. If the state does not block the customs for a month, from tomorrow onwards we will gather with all the families we have, we will block the road with tractors”

“The purpose of this protest is to sensitize the Albanian government to the conditions of recent years when about 80% of farmers have abandoned the land, we want to preserve Albanian production and not Serbian, Italian and Greek production. In these conditions that Albanian agriculture is in, these few farmers should not abandon the land as others have abandoned it. Put us in an equal position with subsidies and we can compete with the Greek farmer”

“I have a refrigerated warehouse, I have collected over 40% of the village at a price that is one cent high, at 7 percent, the market price, while we are feeling difficulties from Serbian and Greek apples”

Small and medium businesses have also supported the protest. Bujar Muço says that Albanian farmers have been without government support for a long time, while this does not happen with farmers from countries in the region who produce at a lower cost.

“In Serbia, all farmers are subsidized twice, for each kg of production. By getting all these subsidies, it lowers the cost of production. That is why we have gathered here to call on the state authorities to intervene and put their hands on these farmers. We don’t want alms, the government has its levers to limit imports so that local production can be sold,” said Bujar Muço, vice president of the small and medium business association in Albania.

The largest quantities of unsold apples are in the villages of Maliq and Korçë municipalities, while not small quantities are also in the refrigerators of Devoll municipality.