Deep Roots

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While it can offer a very successful business model,

family farming at small-scale production like the model

that dominates Albanian agriculture does not allow for

the profitability that can be obtained through economies

of scale. It becomes therefore imperative that Albanian

agricultural products secure an added value that enables

them to compete with neighbouring products on the basis

of quality rather than quantity. Organic farming has come

to increasingly be recognized as important in this respect.

Albania has what it takes to develop its label of organic

products. It possesses a relatively cheaper labour force in

bigger numbers compared to more developed European

Union countries given its predominantly rural population.

And, as has already been mentioned, due to its rather prim-

itive state inherited from the communist regime and its

moderate development to date, it still has arable soil that is

very suitable for organic production. Organic farming also

plays an important role in relation to agritourism, which

has just started to be explored in Albania.

However, the modernization of agricultural production,

either in this form or in its more conventional manner,

faces many challenges. Some of the most acute problems

regarding family farming today are those related to the

centralized agriculture and the communistic regime, like

the fragmentation of land or the lack of professional knowl-

edge among farmers. Today’s farmers in Albania have a

low starting base in their professional training, due to the

past regime which organized labour in agriculture through

communistic-type cooperatives that sharply divided tech-

nical skills from manual labour. The lack of formation, in

turn, does not allow for new and adequate technology to

find its way, especially in remote areas of the country, where

family farming occupies all agricultural land. Other chal-

lenges are related to the good functioning of free market

mechanisms like the ones connected with the economy of

scale, access to domestic and foreign markets through effi-

cient collection and storage of products, or the lack of a

suitable financial environment in the form of credits and

other financing tools for the development of agricultural

family enterprises.

These deficiencies are also an indication of the high

production potential of family farming that is not exploited.

There is an evident need to make family farming more

dynamic and efficient, not only regarding its production

but its organization as well.

The lack of intensive farming practices in Albanian

family farms has resulted in the conservation of local

natural resources and of biodiversity countrywide. The

majority of the farms use local varieties in their produc-

tion, thus preserving, among animals, local small ruminant

breeds which still represent more than 80 per cent of the

small ruminant population in Albania or, among plants,

Image: Min of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration

Family farming preserves traditional food products while contributing to a balanced diet, enabling a lifestyle that is unique to countryside

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