Tirana - Last week on December 06th, the Albanian minister for Agriculture, Food and Consumer’s Protection, Mr. Jemin Gjana has announced to strongly increase government support to the farmers population. In the coming period (2008) an extra amount of 4 million Euros will be invested. This financial means will be used for assisting farmers to increase their production of fruits, vegetables and livestock.

Recently SNV worked out a report “On Monitoring and Evaluation of the Direct Financial Scheme to support orchards, vineyards and olive trees production in Fier and Diber regions” for the Albanian ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer’s Protection. In the conclusion SNV recommended to enlarge investments in the agriculture sector by seeking also co-financing from the farmers, as a way to approach the single payment scheme used in EU countries.