In the area of Gračac, 120 milk producers are registered, who annually produce about 3.7 million liters of milk, 50 percent of which is exported from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Two renowned milk processors are active in the area of that city, which buy raw milk from farmers.
One of the most successful producers is farmer Mirsad Suljić from Vučkovec, who has had a dairy cow farm for years. He has udders that are very high quality and highly milky.
“Currently, I have 42 cows, 25 dairy cows and 14 heifers, and every day I deliver milk to the dairy. There is work and it is done with a lot of strength. Every day there are 75 liters, while the monthly production is about 22 tons of raw milk. Soon we will have lactofreeze and it will be much easier for us. We own our machinery. The obligations are big, but we also have earnings due to the premium, which means a lot to dairy farmers,” he told Fena Suljić.
In three years, this farmer is going to a well-deserved retirement, and his son will succeed him in agricultural work. Otherwise, he is satisfied with the production of milk, but not with its purchase price.
“For the most part, I’m satisfied, although the purchase price could be higher. I am currently paid 87 pfennigs per liter plus VAT. This is the price because we have no competition, while other places pay a higher price for raw milk per liter. It’s lucky that there are premiums, so that keeps us going, because if it weren’t for the premiums, we would have closed the farm. We are threatened as domestic producers”, emphasized Suljić.
He says that every month he buys 10 tons of animal feed, which costs eight thousand convertible marks, stating that he allocates funds for veterinarians, as well as for workers’ insurance.
Suljić is the first farmer in Bosnia and Herzegovina who bought a modern tractor for agricultural work. In addition to the acquisition of modern machinery, this year he also renewed the stock. Although the work of a farmer is very demanding, Suljić says that you can find time for rest.
“We took a new tractor that cost 95 thousand convertible marks, we also took heifers. Everything is possible, but it must be done. The costs are high, I feed the cattle and I don’t skimp on the fodder. There is time for everything, you just need to organize yourself”, he stressed.
According to him, the job of the farmer is much easier today because there is mechanization that makes it easier for him to cultivate about 17 hectares of land.
“It was more difficult before because everything was done by hand, the cows were milked by hand, the milk was taken to the market, and today everything is different and much easier. I have achieved everything through my work and I am happy for that,” he added.
Assistant to the mayor of Gradačac, Senad Džombić, says that milk producers in the area receive an incentive of 2.2 million KM annually, of which 1.8 million KM is from the federal level and 400 thousand KM from the cantonal level.
“When we talk about dairy production in Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 260 million liters of raw milk are bought in an organized manner, of which 85 million are bought by two renowned processors who are registered in the area of the City of Gradačac. In Gradačac, we have 120 producers who annually produce around 3.7 million liters of milk and deliver it to processors,” Džombić said.
Otherwise, the City of Gradačac helps producers through the organization and financing of anti-hail protection that protects large areas of agricultural crops.
The town of Gradačac can boast of numerous households engaged in the cultivation of various agricultural crops. They are happy, as they say, about the announcement by the Government of the Federation of BiH that farmers will soon be able to get loans more easily, through which they could improve domestic food production, modernize the production process, and thus increase their own competitiveness on the market.
Source: akta.ba
