By Shkipe Deda and Christy Duijvelaar Upon entering Kosovo via the Prishtina airport, visitors are confronted with reminders of the livestock crises affecting Western Europe: The fluid for disinfecting passengers' shoes is in a basin near the entrance, and all fresh milk and meat products must be surrendered to customs officers - even milk from a baby's bottle. Fortunately, Kosovo's agriculture does not yet suffer from the problems encountered in the West, and this may be partly due to the more traditional, or organic, farming practices that are prevalent here. The organic methods used in Kosovo could help farmers in the entity become competitive in the export market in the long term. But in the short term, these farmers are less concerned about being organic and more worried about rebuilding the productivity they have lost since the war in 1999. The agricultural sector in Kosovo used to create about one third of the entity's GDP in 1995, and in 1998 the sector accounted for an estimated 60 percent of employment. Kosovo's main agricultural areas lie in the Western part of the entity, where the fertile valleys have long been a place to cultivate tomatoes, peppers, other vegetables, wheat, sheep and bees. Most farms are family enterprises, so the produce first serves to feed the family running the farm and any surplus is sold to rural or urban markets. Farming in Kosovo has a proud heritage: sons learn from their fathers to plant acacia along their fields and to take the sheep and cattle out for grazing in the hills. Many such traditions are being picked up by ecological agriculture systems, which are now gaining popularity in Western and Central and Eastern Europe. The agricultural traditions in Kosovo match well with new ecological agriculture trends, such as making a hedge along fields to ensure a high variety of insects, thus preventing plagues caused by overpopulation of one type of species. Such an emphasis on organic practices in the West could have prevented bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow disease." The cause of this disease is feeding ruminants with concentrates containing remains of dead animals. Organic farmers do not feed this type of concentrate to their cattle, so cows bred and raised on organic farms can stay free of BSE. Even the hoof and mouth outbreak that hit the West might have been less severe if livestock were not kept in the close quarters that are common on intensive farms. War takes its toll The future of farming in Kosovo could lie in becoming more organic and eschewing the intensive farming practices that are now being regarded with increasing suspicion in the West. Organically produced food is growing in popularity, and it could help Kosovo's farmers be more competitive on the world market. But right now, farmers in the entity only want to become more productive. Around the city of Peja/Pec the agriculture sector has been heavily affected by the war. According to Sokol Krasniqi, head of the farmer's organisation for this region: "Priority should be the rehabilitation and replacement of agricultural mechanisation." In his municipality, Decan, only two out of the 17 combines are functional. And from the 1,750 tractors in Decan, 360 survived the conflict - though with support from international NGOs another 300 could be rehabilitated. As a consequence of the equipment shortage, many local farmers are forced to rent a tractor if they want to plant. "It costs too much and by the time your turn comes, the season is gone," said Krasniqi. In the autumn of 1999, in an effort to alleviate the crisis in Kosovo's agriculture, the international community supplied basic inputs, including wheat seed, fertiliser and tools covering the needs for an estimated 35 percent of the rural households. The assistance seems to have done some good. The season of 2000 showed a wheat yield of 2.7 tonnes/hectare, which is close to the pre-war level, according to the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Meanwhile, the overall cattle-herd has increased significantly over the 2000 population. The agricultural program of the interim authorities for 2001 aims at investing just under DEM 120 million in the sector, mainly for farm and agribusiness inputs and development, according to a UNMIK Department of Reconstruction report. But international aid has also complicated the position of Kosovo farmers. One reason for low financial returns to local farmers was that the domestic market was swamped by imports, often subsidised products, entering free of duties and taxes from FYR Macedonia, the UNMIK Department of Reconstruction report said. Well-meaning international organisations apparently overlooked the local market sometimes. According to farmer Enver Berisha, even the international NGOs that were involved in food distribution ordered potatoes from other countries, while the local potatoes were freezing and rotting. Until their financial situation improves, Kosovo farmers are still eager for high production and therefore apparently not too concerned about the potential for fertilisers and pesticides to harm the environment in agricultural areas. This risk is especially great because there are no means for controlling the types of fertilisers or pesticides applied by farmers. One uses what one can get, and preferably as much as possible. The farmers of the Peja/Pec association insist on using chemicals to ensure a reasonable level of production, but the commercial price of pesticides and fertilisers is prohibitive. In 2000, many farmers gave up before even starting. "It is cheaper to buy food than to produce it," said Jashar Shala, a member of the Peja/Pec farmer's association. Alternatives welcome Alternatives to chemical fertilisers or pesticides would apparently be welcome in Kosovo, as long as they ensure a higher income for rural families. This means that ecological agriculture alternatives have to offer cheap options to increase production, which should not be too hard, because average yields in Kosovo are probably even lower than they would be if environmentally friendly techniques were used. One group that is trying to promote the benefits of environmentally friendly agricultural methods is the Netherlands-based Avalon Foundation, which specialises in transmitting skills and knowledge about ecological agriculture from the Netherlands to the Central and Eastern European countries. The foundation's most recent project aims at ensuring sufficient food production and stabilising rural employment in South Eastern Europe through the development of organic agriculture and sustainable production methods based on low-input agriculture. With funding from HIVOS in the Netherlands, the Avalon Foundation has involved several NGO partners in South Eastern Europe, as well as the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe's Field Office in Kosovo, in helping introduce ecologically sound farming methods. The project's work in Kosovo is carried on through hands-on workshops with farmers and farmers' organisations, distribution of information, the publication of a practical guidebook and training for Kosovars via the Avalon Foundation's international training of trainers sessions. The farmers of the Peja/Pec region need good quality seeds at a reasonable price, a viable long-term loan system to help restart agricultural production and better protection of local products on the market. It is possible to meet these needs with sustainable agricultural practices.

Crisis in productivity threatens natural agricultural traditions