Around 40 hectares of agricultural land in Devoll have been damaged by a hailstorm, according to the initial assessments by Devoll Municipality. The average level of damage is estimated at around 40%.

The villages of Braçanj and Dobranj are among the worst-affected areas, where bean fields have suffered considerable damage. In some cases, farmers say they have lost up to 70% of their production.

Beans, which were in the ripening stage and expected to be harvested soon, are the most severely damaged crop. The hail also affected onions, tomatoes, peppers, apples, pears and other agricultural products.

In Dobranj alone, around 30 hectares planted with beans have been identified, with damage ranging from 50% to 60%.

The head of Dobranj village, Petrika Zyfi, said that around 50 farmers had been affected by the situation and that the most serious consequences had been recorded in the bean fields.

Farmers say that several months of work were damaged within just a few minutes. In addition to the losses already caused, they are also concerned about the amount of produce that remains in the fields.

This is the second time in just a few weeks that the area has faced such a storm. According to the farmers, another similar incident occurred a month ago, prompting them to seek support from the institutions.

Field assessments will continue over the next three days in order to accurately determine the affected areas and the extent of the damage.

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Until a few months ago, farmers in Kosovo said that around 30 percent of fresh milk remained unsold. Among other factors, they attributed this situation to competition from products made with powdered milk and vegetable fats.

Following the Government’s decision to restrict the use of these ingredients in the dairy industry, some farmers say that the market is showing signs of improvement.

Figures from the Association of Milk Producers, obtained by Radio Free Europe, also show an increase in the amount of milk sold by farmers.

During the first six months of this year, the Association’s partner farmers collected and sold more than 45 million liters of milk. During the same period last year, the amount was around 35 million liters.

Meanwhile, the value of imports of palm oil and powdered milk has also declined.

Arbnor Binakaj, a farmer from the outskirts of Gjakova, looks after around 40 cows and produces between 270 and 300 liters of milk every day.

He says that in previous years, uncertainty over the sale of his production had made him hesitant to invest in and expand his farm.

According to him, recent developments have changed the situation.

“We have gone through occasional crises and periods when there was no market for milk. Now there are signs of stability, and milk is no longer being left unsold. For this reason, I will increase my investments and production capacity, because until now palm oil and powdered milk have replaced our fresh product,” Binakaj told Radio Free Europe.

His plan is to increase the number of cows from 40 to 100, although the realization of this investment will also depend on the continuation and implementation of the measures adopted.

“The Government should keep the measures it has taken in force, because they give farmers security, prospects and stability,” Binakaj said.

Xhevdet Morina, a farmer from Rogova in the Has region, also expects changes in the market. He has around 70 cows and produces up to 900 liters of milk a day.

However, Morina believes that banning or restricting palm oil and powdered milk is not sufficient in itself.

He calls for buyers to be clearly informed about the composition of the products they purchase.

“In stores, products containing vegetable fats should be clearly separated and labeled from those containing animal fats, so that consumers know exactly what they are buying,” Morina told Radio Free Europe.

The Government’s measures were introduced following farmers’ complaints that a large quantity of fresh milk was failing to find buyers.

On April 28, the Ministry of Agriculture approved a package of restrictions for the dairy market aimed at protecting domestic production and consumers.

The package provides for clearer categorization and labeling of products, bans the mixing of fresh milk with products containing powdered milk or palm oil, and includes inspections along with laboratory analyses.

Powdered milk was also included in the excise scheme.

However, the new rules do not mean that every product containing vegetable fats or powdered milk has been permanently banned.

Operators using these ingredients must meet the new licensing, categorization and labeling requirements. If the composition does not justify such a designation, these products may not be sold as traditional dairy products.

Inspections carried out after the measures came into force uncovered inconsistencies in the market.

At the beginning of August, the Food and Veterinary Agency announced that approximately 20 percent of dairy product samples differed in their actual composition from the information stated on the label.

In most cases, the presence of undeclared palm oil was identified.

The FVA said that operators using palm oil or powdered milk must obtain special licenses. Their products also may not be sold under traditional designations such as “milk,” “cheese,” “cottage cheese” or “cream.”

Following these decisions, the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship, Trade and Innovation began inspections at stores, warehouses and importers, as well as among wholesalers and retailers.

Businesses were asked to remove from their shelves products in which the responsible authorities had found inconsistencies.

Radio Free Europe asked the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship, Trade and Innovation for information on the amount of products removed from the market, but the Ministry did not respond to the request.

Some dairy products that were previously part of the selection are now missing from stores.

Data from Kosovo Customs provide another indication of changes in this sector.

During the January-July period, the value of palm oil and powdered milk imports was lower than during the same period last year.

In the first seven months of this year, Kosovo imported palm oil worth around 2.3 million euros. During the same period in 2025, imports amounted to around 3 million euros.

The difference became more pronounced after May.

From May to July alone, palm oil imports were around 270 thousand euros lower than during the same months of the previous year.

However, these figures do not prove that the decline in imports is a direct consequence of the government measures.

Palm oil is also used outside the food industry, including in the cosmetics sector.

Therefore, the change in the total value of imports of this product cannot be attributed solely to the dairy market.

A decline was also recorded in powdered milk imports.

Its value fell from around 1.8 million euros in the first seven months of 2025 to approximately 1.3 million euros during the same period this year.

Naser Bajraktari, chairman of the Association of Milk Producers, believes that the measures could make it easier for farmers to sell fresh milk.

He expects restrictions on palm oil and alternative products in dairies to increase demand for locally produced milk. According to him, the full impact of these measures may become more apparent in the coming period.

Bajraktari says that farmers have the ability to increase production and meet a larger share of market demand.

Radio Free Europe also contacted several processing companies that use fresh milk as a raw material.

Some of the companies, which asked not to be identified, said they had increased their purchases of fresh milk but did not provide figures for the increase.

Other companies said they had temporarily halted production of certain items until they met the licensing requirements.

Despite farmers’ optimism, the industry does not yet regard the change as a lasting trend.

Gani Durmishi of the Kosovo Dairy Industry Association says that some companies still have reserves of unsold products and that demand for fresh milk has not increased significantly.

He says sales of some products, without specifying which ones, have fallen by as much as 50 percent.

Durmishi links the decline to uncertainty among consumers following inspections and the discovery of undeclared ingredients.

He calls on the FVA to publish which domestic products have passed the analyses and meet safety standards. According to him, such information would help restore consumer confidence.

Durmishi also confirms that some factories have temporarily suspended production of certain items containing palm oil or powdered milk until they obtain licenses and complete categorization in line with the new requirements.

According to him, the industry’s main difficulty is not processing but selling finished products.

The industry has the capacity to process around one million liters of milk a day, while it currently processes up to 300 thousand liters.

This highlights the paradox of Kosovo’s dairy market.

Domestic production is not sufficient to meet all consumption needs.

At the same time, the industry says it is operating far below its processing capacity.

Nevertheless, farmers have reported that some fresh milk has failed to find buyers.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, production in Kosovo covers only around 66 percent of market needs, while the remainder is supplied through imports.

During 2024, Kosovo’s dairy industry produced products worth 135.2 million euros.

At the same time, the number of dairy cows in the country has declined.

In 2024, Kosovo had 126,549 dairy cows, or 3,348 fewer than the previous year, when there were 129,897.

Farmers say that one of the reasons for this decline is prolonged uncertainty in the market.

To encourage production, the Ministry of Agriculture provides farmers with a subsidy of 90 euros per year for each cow. For every liter of milk, they receive between 2 and 7 cents, depending on quality.

Although Kosovo imports around one-third of the dairy products it consumes, local farmers have faced difficulties selling their production. This shows that the problem is not determined solely by the amount of milk produced.

Prices, the use of substitute products, imports, the way the industry is supplied with raw materials and the market’s ability to absorb domestic production are elements of a more complex chain. / RFE

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Among the main problems that continue to harm farmers and the sector’s competitiveness are low subsidies for agriculture and livestock compared with countries in the region, high production costs, a lack of irrigation infrastructure, and the removal of excise-free diesel.

Because of these difficulties, farmers and livestock breeders have warned that they will resume protests at the beginning of September if the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development does not take their demands into account.

During the first week of September, representatives of farmers and livestock breeders are expected to submit a series of demands to the Ministry of Agriculture, mainly concerning the national agricultural scheme, subsidies, VAT and production costs.

According to members of the Association of Dairy-Producing Livestock Breeders, one of the main demands will be a review of the national scheme, particularly the removal of thresholds for receiving direct reimbursements for livestock.

Livestock breeders will also demand that the subsidy for cows be increased from 12,000 to 20,000 lek per head, that VAT be reduced, and that the labeling of domestic dairy products be regulated, as these products are made with fresh but imported milk.

If these demands are not reflected in the fiscal changes and the national scheme for 2027, farmers are warning of protests.

According to them, there is now discussion of having tractors take part in the protest, taking the fulfillment of their demands beyond the usual forms of protest that farmers have organized in the past.

Subsidies and excise-free diesel remain the farmers’ main demands.

For livestock breeders, the main issue remains the difference in state support compared with countries in the region. Dashamir Çela, who runs a farm with 60 cows in the village of Samaticë in Berat, has stated that the lack of competitiveness is making it increasingly difficult to continue the activity.

According to him, livestock farming is going through its most difficult period. The lack of competitiveness is one of the main problems faced by the few livestock breeders who remain in the country.

We produce at high cost because of a number of problems affecting the sector, ranging from the high price of diesel and the lack of irrigation canals to low subsidies.

He emphasizes that, currently, a livestock breeder in Serbia receives direct subsidies of 350 euros per cow, as well as 16 lek for every liter of milk produced. In total, a livestock breeder with a farm similar in size to his receives 45,000 euros in subsidies per year.

With such support, the farmer in Serbia and other countries in the region has a profit guaranteed by the state. As a result, he sells milk more cheaply than the Albanian farmer, almost at the level of production costs.

Meanwhile, we receive only 12,000 lek in subsidies per cow and, following the latest changes to the scheme, subsidies for calves have been eliminated.

He says that a review of subsidies—which would mean increasing their amount and removing thresholds for the number of animals—remains one of the sector’s main demands, for which a solution is being sought through fiscal interventions in the drafting of the draft budget and the upcoming fiscal package.

According to livestock breeders, these differences with countries in the region are directly affecting milk prices and processors’ supplies.

According to agricultural experts in Kosovo, subsidies reach 600 euros per cow. In North Macedonia, farmers receive 250 euros per cow, plus 10 lek per liter of cow’s milk produced. In total, annual support for milk reaches around 900 euros.

This difference in the level of direct subsidies, together with high animal-feed costs and the high price of diesel for cultivating the land, continues to create double pressure on domestic farmers: on the one hand, their expenses are rising, while on the other, they are unable to compete with producers from the region.

In March this year, the government reviewed the national agricultural scheme. One of the most widely discussed changes was the removal of excise-free diesel, a scheme that had been in force since 2021.

The Ministry of Agriculture argued that the benefits for farmers would be replaced by a new scheme providing for the reimbursement of 10% of the VAT paid on agricultural inputs through self-invoices for purchases issued by processors.

On the other hand, the changes led to an increase in the amount of some direct subsidies and a reduction in the animal-number thresholds for receiving them.

While a livestock breeder received a direct subsidy of 10,000 lek in 2025, in 2026, under the approved changes, they receive 12,000 lek per head. Meanwhile, support for small livestock increased from 1,200 to 1,500 lek.

The new scheme also halved the thresholds for the number of animals on a farm required to receive subsidies. The threshold for farms with cows was lowered from at least 10 cows to at least 5 cows, while for small livestock the threshold was reduced from 100 to 50 head.

However, farmers and livestock breeders did not welcome these changes; they are seeking greater support and measures that, they say, would guarantee the competitiveness of domestic production.

At the beginning of April, hundreds of farmers protested outside the Ministry of Agriculture. Their main demands included the reinstatement of excise-free diesel and an increase in subsidies for cows.

The removal of the diesel scheme came at a time when fuel and agricultural-input costs were rising, adding to the pressure on farmers.

After several hours of protest, a delegation of farmers met with the ministers of Agriculture and Finance, where they discussed the possibility of reviewing and addressing the demands during September.

Sector representatives have stated that they want the changes to be reflected before the fiscal package and draft budget for 2027 are prepared. Otherwise, the protests could reappear, this time with a broader demand for lower costs and increased support for the domestic sector.

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