Economic and social role of agriculture in the federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Agriculture and agricultural households have taken over the considerable social burden in rural villages and society in general mitigating poverty and providing food security for the poor in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While some positive developments have been observed, transformation and restructuring in agriculture and in the food sector have been conducted relatively slowly. The declining role of donations in emergency and reconstruction projects should be offset by an efficient development investment and credit measures to increase competitiveness of domestic produce, generate jobs and create developments of marketing channels utilising advantages of domestic agriculture and food processing as factors of rural entrepreneurship and poverty elevation. Due to scarce financial resources, greater attention should be given to create a proper climate for the creation of international competitive programs with minimal government transfers. The most visible shortcoming of the post-war agricultural and food sector development is the large and increasing trade deficit in agricultural and food products. The only way to break up such deteriorating patterns is to develop competitive domestic production able to compete with imports and in exports, which, although recovering, is still at a relatively low level.