Opening a Farm in Montenegro: Is It Possible?
Potential immigrants often ask: Is it possible to open a farm in Montenegro? My answer is—yes, of course, it is. Farmers sell ALL of their products! No matter how much you produce, you will sell everything. There are no problems with farming in Montenegro!
To support my words with facts, I decided to translate an article from the excellent website bankar.me. The article is titled “This summer, everything offered on the market was sold”. Here is the translated version.
Increased Demand Due to Tourist Influx
The growing number of tourists in recent months boosted demand for local agricultural products. Farmers experienced no stagnation in production and were satisfied with sales.
Note from Europartner: The article doesn’t mention that there was no stagnation even during the pandemic. Even without tourists, farmers sold all their products.
Montenegrin Farmers Sell All Their Produce
Everything offered to the market was sold, and there was even a shortage of some goods—especially potatoes, cabbage, and tomatoes—which had to be compensated for through imports. There was also a cheese shortage, and local farmers were only able to cover 30% of the country’s meat needs.
According to Oliver Lakončić, PR manager of the Voli retail chain, they purchased a large amount of farm products from Montenegrin farmers and praised their good cooperation. He noted that this season saw increased demand for tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, zucchini, and other local products.
Farmer Testimonies and Market Realities
Farmer Veselin Jovović from Danilovgrad said he was very happy with the peak season and that everything was going according to plan—though it’s still unclear how the year will end, as the epidemic situation may worsen.
Note from Europartner: Even if the epidemic worsens—what difference would it make? As stated earlier, Montenegro produces only 30% of its meat. The situation with other farm products is probably not much better.
“This year, there was no stagnation,” said Jovović. “The season has been excellent, with a huge influx of tourists to the coast and increased demand for farm products.” He added that he is working with the Voli supermarket chain.
Note from Europartner: In August, the number of tourists even surpassed the record level of 2019.
“My production is year-round, and I can’t be sure the year will end as well as it is going now. If the epidemic worsens and we get new lockdowns or border closures, we might not be able to sell all our products in the fall. My farm is large and produces significant quantities,” he said.
He produces 130 tons of potatoes and 130 tons of onions annually, along with zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and 18 types of herbs grown in greenhouses.
Challenges and the Need for Sector Planning
The farmer pointed out that the massive import of food into Montenegro is a big problem. This shows that local farmers are not working as efficiently as they could, and the number of farms is insufficient. A large quantity of tomatoes is imported from Serbia and other neighboring countries. In August, there was a shortage of potatoes, even though there was a surplus the previous month.
“There’s a poor balance between supply and demand in Montenegro’s agriculture,” he said. “I believe the Ministry of Agriculture needs to work hard on developing the sector so that the supply is more balanced. The industry needs production planning and the construction of storage facilities to hold products during oversupply and sell them later.”
He added that importing potatoes and cabbage—which Montenegro can grow itself—is unacceptable.
Regional Competition and Missed Opportunities
Recently, Albania has surpassed Montenegro in agricultural production, although it had always lagged behind. Now, Albania supplies the largest amount of tomatoes and peppers to Montenegro, which Jovović finds ironic.
He also reminded that the Ministry of Agriculture supports companies that export products. The government pays 5 eurocents per exported kilogram of potatoes or watermelons. These companies became major exporters—but small local producers did not receive these subsidies.
Note from Europartner: So why not export your products yourself and get the subsidies?
Meat and Cheese in High Demand
Hilmija Franka, owner of the company Mesopromet, said his company bought all the meat and cheese offered to them, as these products were in short supply this season. All the farmers interviewed confirmed they sold 100% of their production this year.
“We think there will be no problems with sales this year. Demand for meat is especially high. The season is excellent—very close to what we had in 2019,” said Franka. “At least in terms of our sales, the situation now is no worse than it was in 2019, when Montenegro had a record number of tourists.”
