Farmers from across Montenegro staged a protest outside the government building in Podgorica on Wednesday, with some arriving on tractors and blocking a nearby street for two hours. Organisers said the situation in Montenegrin agriculture has become unsustainable, warning that farms are shutting down, livestock numbers are falling and rural areas are being abandoned due to years of poor agricultural policy.
Protest leaders called for the agri-budget to be increased to at least five percent of the total state budget, arguing that current funding does not reflect agriculture’s importance to the economy.
According to organisers, only around 30 million euros of this year’s agri-budget goes directly to food production, while food imports continue to rise, reaching nearly one billion euros last year. Farmers also warned that continued inaction could lead to more radical protests.
Support for the protesters came from State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture Andrija Delić, who said he was ready to take responsibility and would choose agriculture over his position if forced to do so. He highlighted the lack of a strategy for purchasing surplus produce, poor rural infrastructure and the exodus of young people from villages, stressing that the ministry exists to serve farmers, not the other way around.
