Montenegro

Montenegro is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe with a population around 620,000 inhabitants. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia and Kosovo to the northeast and Albania to the south-east. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica.
Montenegro is a member of the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the Central European Free Trade Agreement and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. Montenegro is also a candidate negotiating to join the European Union. The economy of Montenegro is mostly service-based and is in late transition to a market economy.

Montenegro has a surface area of 13 812 square kilometers with agricultural land accounting for 309,241 ha, which represents 22.4% of the entire territory. The largest share of agricultural land resources consists of pasture and grassland which is used extensively. Covering a relatively small area and benefiting from a Mediterranean climate, Montenegro’s agriculture is quite diversified – from growing olives and citrus fruits in the coastal region, through to early seasonal vegetables, tobacco and grape production in the central parts and extensive sheep and cattle breeding in the north. Agriculture is by far the largest activity of the rural population – almost 50 000 households obtain their income partly or entirely from agriculture.

Food production in Montenegro has a growing trend. According to the statistical data agriculture, together with forestry and hunting makes about 8.1% of GDP (2014.). These figures are showing that the agriculture and related industries are a significant part of overall economy. Agriculture is, beside tourism and energy sector, one of three main pillars of economic development of Montenegro.

In the last few years, through the implementation of Agro budget (national budget for Agriculture), MIDAS project (World Bank project-Montenegro Institutional Development and Agriculture Strengthening Project) and IPARD like project (EU and WB project), big step forward in the improvement of agricultural production is made. Montenegrin agricultural producers are improved and modernized their holdings, increased the number of cattle, plantations, but it is important to notice that there are still small farms, average size of 5 ha, which cannot compete with big agricultural producers from the EU countries in terms of quantity. If they want to be competitive they have to be associated and produce quality, geographical protected products with higher value, and organic products, for which Montenegro have big potentials as ecological country, with healthy soil, water and air. So, the opportunities for investments and development of Montenegrin agriculture are many.

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Montenegro