E fundit!

12:36 POLITICS

"You say you have a beautiful soul, you can do it yourself"/ Lamallari ironizes Balli: You are delusional

Interior Minister Besfort Lamallari, in today's interpella...

Orman farmers, request to institutions: Verify potato seed, economic damage, millions of lek

2026-05-29 10:24:00, Aktualitet CNA

Orman farmers, request to institutions: Verify potato seed, economic damage,

Dozens of farmers from the village of Orman in the Maliq Municipality are facing a major economic loss this year, after the potato seeds they purchased from a private entity turned out to be of poor quality, causing a large part of the production to fail to germinate or to completely degrade in the soil.

Farmers say the damage amounts to millions of lek and are demanding the intervention of state institutions to verify the seed, analyze it, and compensate for the losses caused. According to them, the problem did not come from the soil or the cultivation method, but from the quality of the seed used this season.

For more than two decades, farmer Krenar Kreka says he has been working with the same type of potato seed, but this year the situation has been catastrophic. He says that over 75 percent of the seed has sprouted and failed to produce, while the economic damage to his family exceeds 30 million lek.

"We have been working with this type of potato seed for 25 years, it's called Karlit, and it has never come out like it did this year. This year it is over 75-80% completely warped, that is, it hasn't come out at all. And even what has come out is out of everything. Look, you saw it for yourself, it is degraded, that is."

He accuses the lack of controls and demands that state institutions verify the seed that, according to him, has entered the market without the necessary analyses.

"The problem lies here because the state has not done the analyses properly since it entered customs. Or that man has forged it, I got it from Enver Shaholli in Lumalas, there is another subsidiary called Qemal Petriti and he does not accept this, he accepts that I gave you the seed but there are no problems, he says. Here is the fact, I have done the soil analyses, all the cards are in the Korça Agriculture. I told them to do an analysis for the potato seed, they do an analysis for the potato tuber before the potato comes out. We have always bought it from the same person and this is the first time we have been hit like this. I have three small children and the damage is over 30 million lek and I do not know what I will do now."

The farmer says he has notified the institutions and warns that he will pursue the matter to the end, including through legal means.

"I will continue until the end because three small children want bread at home. Until the end. Even through legal means, through everything, because I have nothing to do. We have agriculture, we have nothing else."

Krenar's wife, Jorida Kreka, also speaks of an extremely difficult financial and emotional situation for her family. She says that all the agricultural work has been carried out at high costs, while in the end the land has remained unproductive.

"It's very difficult, as you can see, all these wasteful wastes. It was plowed, it was milled, it was planted. At that time, the oil cost us two thousand lek to do this work."

She demands immediate intervention from the state and compensation for the affected farmers.

"The total cost at the end of July of what I had to sell, comes out to over 30 million in damages for me. We want compensation! I want help from the state to control where this seed that is being planted came from."

Similar concerns are raised by farmer Daniel Plasa, who says that the problem is widespread in other plots and calls for state intervention to protect farmers.

"For the goods you see here, it's all yesterday today at this stage that is being looked at. The main reason is the seed. The seed is degenerate, nothing more. The state must influence these things, it must protect us."

The farmer says that for many families, agriculture is the only source of livelihood and the loss of this season risks leaving dozens of farmers without income.

"We have been in this business for over 25 years. We know what happens to the plant. I say the state will help us. I don't believe it will leave us at this stage. We work for the family."

Orman farmers demand that the responsible institutions conduct laboratory analyses of the potato seed, determine responsibilities and take concrete measures to compensate them, as according to them, this year's damages have jeopardized the economic survival of families who live solely from agriculture./ CNA