KAFARAJ, ALBANIA    U.S. Ambassador to Albania Donald Lu, Prime Minister Edi Rama, and Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Water Administration Edmond Panariti, toured the reconstructed greenhouse tunnels of farmer, Xhemil Hamataj, today in Kafaraj (Fier) to see the new technologies introduced by USAID as part of its $750,000 worth of flood assistance to the region. Albania was hit by a severe and intense flood that caused significant damage to agriculture production areas in February 2015.

In a statement to the media following the tour, Ambassador Lu noted that flooding is a recurring problem in Albania and called on the Government “to provide local communities with the resources they need to improve drainage systems and prevent future flooding.”

Over the past year, USAID has created models of excellence for production for greenhouse farmers in the effected regions, including constructing greenhouses with parameters that will have greater resistance to environmental changes, establishing direct market linkages between Albanian input suppliers and input suppliers in EU markets, to reduce the costs of agriculture inputs, and equipping a collection point so that Albanian products will meet quality and safety standards required for exports. In addition to support for strawberry greenhouse farmers, USAID assistance support went to vegetable greenhouse and livestock farmers and dairy processors in Berat, Fier and Vlora regions.