Yesterday, in the premises of the local assembly of Municipality of Petnjica, the project that is being implemented in the field of raspberries production titled “Young Montenegro and Albania in Raspberry Production” was presented.

“The project aims to reduce the unemployment rate in rural areas of Montenegro and Albania, establish new plants and improve existing ones as well as trade in raspberries. This is the first project in which Petnjica Municipality is a leading partner. In addition to our municipality, the partner in this project is the National Association of Raspberries of Montenegro, the Secondary Vocational School in Petnjica, and on the Albanian side we have NGO COSP and “Ndre Mjeda” secondary school from the municipality of Vau i Dejes. This is an exceptional opportunity for what the strategic goals of Petnjica’s development in the field of agriculture are best valued in their interests through the employment of young people and hard-to-employ categories such as women and persons with disabilities. Bearing in mind that our municipality is in the north of Montenegro, which is lagging behind in economic development for the rest of Montenegro, this project will greatly contribute to improving employment, those categories of people who are prone to migratory movements and leave the north of the country. The project will be implemented over a period of 18 months, and the main objectives of the project are to empower young farmers through training, education, setting up Star-up businesses, business plans, and assigning materials and seedlings to future users who will be selected after the competition. It is about 20 plants in Montenegro in the municipality of Petnjica, as well as in the territory of Albania in the municipality of Vau i Dejes, “emphasized the project manager Mr. Ismet Iko Latić on behalf of Petnjica’s local government. The total budget of the project is 271,138 euros, and the financial contribution of the EU is 230,467.30 and the difference that occurs between gross and net is the participation of partners through the project.

“We are committed to our agriculture as a strategic development branch. Knowing that we have extraordinary potential in this area, we decided to focus our knowledge and our energy on attracting as many funds from IPA funds. This is the first project implemented by the Municipality of Petnjica with partners from Albania regarding the production of raspberries. Young people from Montenegro and Albania have teamed up with a raspberry production project. These funds are significant and we will have the opportunity to establish with partners 40 plants, which means 20 for us in Petnjica and 20 for now in Albania. This will be very important for us, because we will ease the migration of the population in this way, because young people can stay here and engage in agricultural production. I believe these are the best measure and activities undertaken and hopefully in the future we will use our potentials and our resources, and on the other hand, our administration will be more able to withdraw as much EU funds as possible in the field of agriculture, production, or new jobs that will mean a lot for our environment, “said Samir Agovic, the Mayor of Petnjica municipality.

Source: website Radio Petnjica.