Policy Increased Efficiency and Effectiveness of Kosovo Agricultural Policy to Benefit the Commercialisation of Small and Family Farmers

Workshop

Kosovo is contemplating to accede to the EU. Looking at farming, the agricultural landscape in Kosovo is very different from the one of the EU. In stark contrast to the farm structure of the EU, an important characteristic of Kosovo is the overwhelming predominance of small-scale farming with low level of market integration. The Agricultural Census of the Republic of Kosovo carried out in 2014 (KAS, 2015) accounted for 130,436 agricultural households and individual businesses. The average size of agricultural holding is 3.2 ha, including nearly 60% of the holdings with a size up to 1 ha. Holdings with arable land between 0 and 0.5 ha are the most common – 35.3% of the total number of holdings. In the livestock sector, the average number of livestock units (LSU) per farm is 3. Thus, small farms/farm households are the prevailing producers in Kosovo which means that their productivity and sustainability are central to the performance of the overall Kosovo agriculture. Commercialisation of this group of farmers is hence crucial for rural economic growth, increased competitiveness of agriculture and improved quality of life of people in rural areas.