FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Lili Biti, a few days ago, became the most famous farmer in Albania after a debate she held with Prime Minister Rama.
He told Rama during a meeting that farmers are the most vulnerable group and that more attention should be paid to them by institutions.
This caused the prime minister to become outraged, asking the farmer to sit down and not speak since it was not his turn.
The 61-year-old says that he has been involved in agriculture in Divjaka for 35 years and on a land area of 10 hectares, he cultivates field vegetables in both seasons. For him, agriculture is his passion and the family economy with which he raised his two children.
"Without the help of the state, we cannot survive. I have 8-10 hectares of land that I plant various vegetables, whatever you can see in the market, beets, flowers, carrots ," Lili Biti says for "TCH".
The farmer emphasizes that he did not ask for a ban on imports, but rather the protection of agricultural production on Albanian land.
"The Prime Minister listened very well that I did not ask for the customs blockade, because that is how he answered me. I asked that when imported goods enter the state be a regulator, if the farmer has goods here, he should raise the reference at customs, as happens in the region. But here the opposite happens. There are 4-5 large traders and they compete with us ," adds the 61-year-old.
He also says that he was not bothered by the opposition to his idea, but by the high-pitched tone the prime minister used towards the 61-year-old.
"My arrogance killed me. Sit down, sit down, I still didn't speak, then I spoke as I felt ," he adds.
But the disappointment wasn't just from politics; at that moment, Lili also felt abandoned by his farming colleagues.
"I left the meeting and my friends told me, 'You did a good job speaking up. Where were you?' I felt like... I was offended that no one stood up," the farmer emphasizes.
Meanwhile, the farmer is facing an uncertain market, as he is selling at a price that does not even cover production costs.
Biti adds: "This is red cabbage, I'm selling it for 15 lek and it goes to Bosnia, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, it should have been sold for 50 lek to be of interest to the farmer. I'm losing 3,000 euros here."
Farmers' crops compete with imports in quantity and price, as a farmer in the region pays several times for the same area of land.
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