Agribusiness in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a diverse parliamentary republic encompassing two main autonomous jurisdictions, which are ethnically distinct. Located in the Balkans, the country declared its independence from the former socialist republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and subsequently underwent years of armed civil conflict. Since then, Bosnia and Herzegovina has transitioned into a market economy and sustained economic growth upwards of 1.0% since 2014. Currently, the country has a total territory of more than 51.000 square kilometers, which is somewhat smaller than West Virginia. Geographically, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a mostly mountainous terrain with some scattered valleys and full climatological seasons throughout the year. Furthermore, the country is almost landlocked, except for a narrow strip of twenty kilometers of coastline on the Adriatic Sea.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has a total population of almost 4 million citizens, about 40% of which live in an urban setting, notably the capital city of Sarajevo with less than 500.000 inhabitants. Therefore, the majority of Bosnians live in a rural area and the national annual gross domestic product (GDP) is approximately US$40 billion. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economy is divided into 8% agriculture, 27% manufacturing, and 65% services. Similarly, the agricultural industry employs 19% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs 30% and services employ another 51%. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry utilizes some 42% of the national territory, while another 43% is forested.

In terms of natural resources, Bosnia and Herzegovina has coal, iron ore, bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, chromite, cobalt, manganese, nickel, clay, gypsum, salt, sand, timber, and hydropower. Within manufacturing, the national industry is focused on steel, aluminum, motor vehicles, textiles, tobacco products, wooden furniture, ammunition, domestic appliances, and oil refining. Meanwhile, the country’s agricultural industry has as main products wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables, and livestock. In terms of trade, Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a member of the European Union; however, the country does have a free trade agreement with the four-member European Free Trade Association (Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland). Likewise, the country’s main trading partners are Slovenia, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Austria, and Turkey.

Agribusiness in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In recent years, the average per capita protein intake of animal origin amongst the Bosnian population has been of 31 grams daily. Meanwhile, cereals, roots, and tubers supply about 50% of the average food energy intake in the country. Simultaneously, land distribution and output in Bosnia and Herzegovina has evolved throughout the last few decades. Back in 1992, permanent pastures and meadows in the country covered 1.2 million hectares, while arable land covered 850.000 hectares and permanent crops accounted for 150.000 hectares. More recently, by 2014, permanent pastures and meadows had decreased to little over 1 million hectares, while arable land represented approximately 1 million hectares and permanent crops covered some 105.000 hectares. Meanwhile, in 1992, the cereals market in Bosnia and Herzegovina utilized over 300.000 hectares of land and yielded more than 1 million metric tons annually. Finally, in 2014, the country devoted less than 275.000 hectares of land to cereals production and still yielded over 1 million metric tons.

(Read more about Trade and Agricultural Production in Romania)