PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Marie K. Thompson
DATE: June 6, 2001
IFDC’s
Project in Albania Nourishes Budding Agribusinesses
 When
Hiqmet Driza, owner of DRIZA Ltd., entered the Albanian poultry
industry in 1997, he faced seemingly insurmountable challenges. Most
of the nation’s processing facilities were unprofitable because of
technological and managerial inefficiencies. Machinery was out of
date, and the human capital needed to develop in the new market
economy was lacking. For Driza and most of Albania’s agricultural
entrepreneurs, no institution existed in Albania’s business
community that was capable of changing these unfortunate
circumstances. In 1999, however, the International Fertilizer
Development Center (IFDC) through the Assistance to Albanian
Agricultural Trade Associations (AAATA) project entered Albania with
an ambitious agenda that facilitated the growth of agribusiness
associations capable of improving conditions.
With funding from
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), IFDC began
the AAATA project in 1999 with the goal of promoting interest in
associations among various agribusiness stakeholders. The project
was designed to establish effective and sustainable support
structures to assist new agricultural entrepreneurs in the
development of prosperous agricultural industries.
Components of
the project include the following:
- Support for
trade associations so that they can become effective advocates
for policy improvement and provide business and technical
information and other services as follows:
- A federation
of 16 trade associations that has a voice on policy issues.
- A business and
management center that provides general services.
- A support unit
that provides technical guidance to eight industry
associations.
- Technical and
business assistance to agribusiness firms that are members of
the associations. Services include access to credit and finance,
business planning, expert advisors, and market information. The
project staff and local and foreign experts provide technical
advice on an industry basis and also according to demand and
potential on an individual enterprise level to establish
successful pilots.
- A range of
support mechanisms for associations and agribusiness, including
the following:
- Help for
public institutions that can work with private firms to
improve food quality, marketing, and regulations and with
policymakers in supplying reliable statistical information and
analysis.
- Finance
advisory services and credit unions to assist association
members in gaining access to credit and investment.
- Media tools,
including a newsletter and publicity campaigns.
The
AAATA project works in an integrated and systematic way through the
trade associations to address constraints and to provide needed
technical assistance to enable the private sector to increase the
quantity and quality of agricultural production on a market driven
basis. By developing and strengthening private business
associations, AAATA/IFDC assumed that agricultural industries in
Albania would be able to procure much-needed financing and
technology with greater efficiency. The program has worked very
effectively and has provided a lasting institutional infrastructure
capable of representing and supplying the needs of the agribusiness
community. The project has increased membership in the trade
associations and provided intensive training, technical and business
assistance, and other support to the association members. As a
result, the members have significantly increased production and
employment, thus contributing to agricultural development and
economic growth in Albania. The new associations have become
successful policy advocates, representing the legislative interests
of their members. They have become sources for inputs—machinery,
feed, seed, etc., which have greatly improved productive capacity
and efficiency in many industries. Perhaps the greatest success of
the AAATA/IFDC program, however, has been its sustainability.
Although the initial phase of the program was completed in 2000, the
trade associations that it sponsored continue operating efficiently,
expanding self-sufficiency, and promoting growth among members. In
fact, the members have increased their business by 30% in 2000 to a
total of US $40 million, three-quarters of it self-financed.
For entrepreneur
Driza, involvement in an AAATA association has resulted in greater
access to sources of credit and information, the modernization of
equipment, and the overall expansion of his poultry business. Since
Driza joined the project, his broiler production has increased from
95,000 units in 1998 to 550,000 units in 2000, a net increase of
455,000 units. Meanwhile, the projected sales figure for 2001 is six
times greater than the figure from 1998, and the company has
expanded its distribution networks to serve all of Albania’s
primary markets. Overall, the poultry association members produced
60% more eggs and 63% more revenue (an increase of US $13.4 million)
during the first two years of the project.
Fortunately, with
the extension of the AAATA project by USAID, the valuable task of
establishing sound private institutions to protect agribusiness
interests in Albania will continue. Having met its objectives in its
initial phase and produced tangible results from its efforts, AAATA/IFDC
is being allowed to exercise its option to continue until January
2004. In the next few years, AAATA/IFDC will build upon its past
successes, extending the developing institutional support network.
The project plans to emphasize the growth of industry clusters in
horticultural agricultural processing, greenhouse fresh produce,
olive and edible oil processing, and poultry. The Albanian
entrepreneurs accept the project’s faith in the future of
agribusiness. For example, priority agricultural enterprises have
invested US $6.8 million of their own funds in the first two years
of the project, US $3 million in the second half of 2000 alone. The
AAATA project has used its training, advice, and influence to
encourage commercial banks to extend US $2.5 million in credit to
project clients during the past two years and to motivate outside
suppliers of agricultural equipment to provide an additional US $2.6
million in trade credit in the same period. This network will
continue to provide advocacy and services to the business community.
Meanwhile, the trade associations’ example in the development of
new techniques and pilot projects, coupled with the continued growth
of member businesses, is expected to add momentum to the nation’s
developing agribusiness sector.
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