Amendments to the Law on the Protection of Agricultural Land pave the way for innovative technologies such as aeroponics, aquaponics and hydroponics, but these innovations were not well received by the opposition in the Agriculture Committee.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Fatmir Guri stressed that “this law does not change the principles on which it was built and does not weaken the protection of agricultural land.”
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For Democratic Party MP Saimir Korreshi, what Guri described as a principle was a disappointment. “Is this a law on the ‘Protection of Agricultural Land’ or on the non-protection of Agricultural Land? I do not understand a single article in this law about what agricultural land currently has that we are protecting,” he said.
According to Korreshi, neither agri-photovoltaics nor wind farms contribute to agricultural development; they merely reduce the area under cultivation. “This is another law that does not protect farmers, but protects those who want to build photovoltaic parks. As for wind power plants, ‘wind farms,’ you know very well how many millions’ worth of concrete they require,” he added.
To calm the debate, committee chairman Fadil Nasufi intervened: “Please confine yourselves to the law.”
On the other hand, Deputy Minister Guri highlighted the benefits of the law: “I want to say that this law also has several benefits in aquaponics and aeroponics, because the products are many times cleaner of chemicals than those from traditional agriculture.”
The discussion on wind and water farms reminded the opposition of the challenges faced by farmers. Korreshi said: “There is no irrigation, no canal, no subsidy, no compensation for those hit by frost, no compensation for those flooded. You come here and talk about protecting agricultural land—change the title to: ‘Grabbing Agricultural Land.’”
After heated exchanges and clashes, neither Korreshi nor his colleagues were persuaded to vote against it, and the legal amendments giving the green light to new agriculture were approved by everyone.
