Bosnia and Herzegovina: EC Finds BiH Makes Limited Progress in Agriculture in 2015

On November 10, the European Commission (EC) released its Progress Report on BiH’s pre-accession efforts, noting that preparations in the areas of agriculture and fisheries are at an early stage. The EC concluded that BiH has yet to develop its agriculture and rural development policy and establish the necessary institutional structures that would allow the use of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD). Furthermore, BiH lacks a national agricultural information strategy and should improve its agricultural statistics. Also, BiH has yet to create a legal framework for the agricultural census and the land registration systems need to be harmonized countrywide. The EC noted that BiH has made some progress in the veterinary and food safety areas, but there is much work that remains to be done. Specifically, BiH should align its official controls with EU standards and should improve its inspection services and laboratories. In the veterinary sector, BiH should improve controls of communicable animal diseases, such as brucellosis, tuberculosis and rabies, and should upgrade its animal identification and control systems for the movement of animals. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina: EC Finds BiH Makes Limited Progress in Agriculture in 2015