Farmland irrigation systems are full at 70 percent, compared to this time last in 2024 when they were at barely 8 percent, said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, announcing that better management will guarantee much better yields.
First of all, we should mention how it was and how it is. We should not forget that the accumulations that were used for irrigation of agricultural holdings in August 2024 were at 8%. Today they are over 70%. With good management and the way in which this Government functions, the capacity of the accumulations has increased almost 9 times, 10 times. Secondly, it should also be mentioned that employees in the irrigation Vodostopanstvo company were owed three salaries. When we criticize, and this especially refers to the opposition, we must do a little retrospective, how it was before when they managed the system. Just as in the National Forests company 3 salaries were also not paid. Not to mention how late the farming subsidies were. Today the situation is completely different. The loan from the KfW Bank of 80 million euros has practically been unblocked and these funds will be used for three new projects in the irrigation sector, said Mickoski.
So these policies, of this Government, will continue in that direction. In the area of tobacco, from 16 million kilograms of tobacco, we came to 26 million kilograms. From prices of 150-160 denars, we came to 420-430 denars per kilogram. In the vineyards, we also went from 60-70 million kilograms, we expect this year’s harvest to be 120 million kilograms. So these are exact parameters and these are numbers that no one can argue with.
