Agricultural production, especially early fruits and vegetables, holds an important place in BiH’s economy. Unfortunately, this production is still largely performed on small parcels of land and is not really market oriented. A large portion of it is still used for the producers’ home needs. The region has a long tradition of agricultural production, but it lacks new technologies. The level of production development in this region is also affected by the lack of irrigation systems. However, irrigation systems are increasingly being installed in new fruit orchards and some farmers are also installing irrigation systems in established orchards as farmers have recognized the value of irrigation systems in production.

The envisioned technical assistance education and trainings (technical and marketing-related) are demand-driven by design. Hence, the selection of particular assistance is heavily influenced by the needs of producer organizations. These trainings and assistance will include specialist trainings and other, more general type of trainings (i.e. financial training, capacity building, etc.). Moreover, in order to support establishment of sustainable linkages among producer/partner organizations and markets, and to provide preconditions for increasing investments in this subsector, FARMA will facilitate organization of networking and B2B events (meetings, fair exhibits in the region and abroad, etc.). FARMA will maintain regular cooperation and coordination with donors and projects to avoid duplication of efforts and activities in the field. This cooperation and coordination will enhance FARMA’s awareness of the ongoing efforts and initiatives of other organizations, thus enabling the project to leverage achievements and accomplishments of those national and international organizations in agriculture.

Leveraging these accomplishments will enable FARMA to use its resources more efficiently and economically, but to create new value-adding initiatives which build upon the foundations of our colleagues. FARMA also intends to explore the feasibility of assisting the development of additional crops and products which may have substantial economic potential beyond the life of the project. Most of the activities in this sector are designed as ongoing activities- those that will be repeated frequently throughout the life of project- designed to develop relationships between producer/partner organizations and their markets which will ensure the long-term sustainability of this agricultural subsector.

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