Food and water are a matter of national security. A country that cannot provide enough of its own food becomes economically vulnerable and directly dependent on prices, fluctuations and crises on international markets. In order to achieve our development vision – greater, secure and modern agricultural production that will satisfy domestic needs, the biggest challenge is to abandon the outdated, conservative model in which agrarian policy is reduced to paying subsidies and solving problems after they have already arisen, Macedonian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management BorcheSerafimovski said in an interview with the MIA news agency.
As Serafimovskistresses, subsidies are necessary, but they are not the final goal. It is necessary for them to grow into a means or systemic measure that will be more effective in terms of higher yields, lower costs for producers, better quality and greater added value for each agricultural product.
“It will no longer be enough to say how much money we have paid out, we will have to show how much more food we have produced. We will measure success through greater domestic production, higher yields, better quality, more secure and higher incomes for farmers,” the minister pointed out.
