Kosovo Cluster and Business Support Project: Promoting Feed Crop Production to Support the Livestock Sector in Kosovo

摘要

A major constraint facing the Kosovo livestock cluster is the susceptibility to high feed costs and dependence on imported complete feeds and/or raw materials. This situation has lead to prohibitively high prices for Kosovar livestock (primarily poultry) producers several times during the last 4 years when regional and/or international stocks of raw materials were low. Generally, feed costs represent 50%-80% of the total cost of production. In Kosovo a number of the large poultry producers are major feed millers. Prior to 2003, millers relied almost totally on imported maize and soybean meal, because locally produced feed raw materials were available in limited quantities. Beginning with the former USAID-funded Kosovo Feed for Poultry Project (KFPP) implemented by IFDC in 2003/04, local production of high-quality maize feed grain; limited production of the newly introduced soybean crop; and forward contracting between farmers, millers, and poultry producers began to emerge. While much of the resulting domestically processed feed has been utilized within the poultry industry, a new market is emerging among the dairy producers where improved feed formulations are producing significantly higher milk production.