Second project of the institutional development and reinforcement of agriculture in Montenegro, MIDAS 2, implemented by the Government and the World Bank, will support the further enhancement of Montenegrin agriculture, fishing sector and domain of food safety.
Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Milutin Simović, believes that the 30 million EUR support package will be increased by the end of this year. According to him, positive effects of the previous MIDAS support program are numerous.
“We’ve set firm foundations in the domain of fishing, agriculture and sector of food safety. We’re now starting the implementation of new MIDAS”, said Simović.
The agriculture sector needs grants for the diversification of agriculture in rural areas, with the aim of supporting the development of other activities in households which would increase the revenue of farmers.
MIDAS 2 will also be focused on the increase of competition in the fishing sector. He thinks that fishing ports wouldn’t deteriorate the environment of seaside towns – they can only enhance them and improve the offer in tourism.
Simović pointed out that they want to make two important steps regarding food safety. They finally want to solve the problem of proper disposal of products of animal origin and strengthen the facilities of Phytosanitary laboratory. All this is done in the moment when Montenegro is in the process of the EU accession.
“Montenegro will bring new values into the EU, thanks to the quality, specificity of autochthonous products which have geographic recognition and organic sign. Support through MIDAS 2 comes at the right time for us”, said Simović.
