The state will support poultry development in Macedonia as EUR 3 million are set to be singled out from the budget next year for the construction of a plant for powdered eggs and canned eggs. If necessary, a slaughterhouse will be also built and cooperatives will be established for the production of broiler meat and production of chickens and main flocks.

For this purpose, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) in the next four months will support a project on poultry development in Macedonia with the intention to develop a program supporting family poultry farms manufacturing broilers. The program should detect key problems, recommend adequate solutions and predict how broiler meat will be produced and how and where it will be sold.

The main objective is in the next five years to cut down import of chicken meat in Macedonia and boost domestic production of poultry meat, which now stands at 500 tons and covers only 5% of domestic needs of the market, according to Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Mihail Cvetkov.

Under the programme, family poultry farms will be stimulated to bolster their production by providing support for investment plans, for which funds will be secured through programs of the Agriculture Ministry and IPARD as well as through affordable loans from Macedonian commercial banks.

“The programme will also help develop cooperative relations between farmers as several businesses will form a cooperative due to joint investments and better promotion of products on the market,” said Minister Cvetkov.

The project’s team leader David Leven said that plans were under way to create packages for the support of production of broilers in order to obtain 12,500 tons of poultry meat annually from domestic production. A team of international and local experts will be set up to meet this goal.

“The project envisages a study to be prepared with three components – to analyze the situation regarding the demand of chicken meat on local markets, prepare a business plan for small broiler capacities and ensure packages for support from the government to small and medium-sized poultry farms,” Leven elaborated.