The Project is working in the context of a sector in forced transition – one in which the previous command economy was progressively destroyed between 1985 and 1998 and was further damaged during the period of armed conflict. The whole agriculture sector, in effect, was reduced to a largely subsistence economy.

The Project was launched with the aim to assist in the development of a dynamic horticulture sector. The vision was that the future agribusiness sector would generate sustainable and broad-based employment and income for Kosovar producers and contribute to economic growth in Kosovo. The Project’s main approach is that of‘Value Chain Promotion’. It has required working with different actors along the value chain to help a profitable and sustainable set of inter-dependent businesses. Such work on the value chains has been complemented by promotion of the overall business enabling environment – as relevant to the horticulture sector.

The components of the Project the different levels of each value chain, ie (i) the micro-level (nursery owners, producers, traders) and covering vegetables, fruit and medicinal & aromatic plants, (ii) the meso-level (service providers, input dealers, financial institutions and actors associations) and finally the (iii) macro-level – concerning national issues such as strategic planning and institutional strengthening.

The ultimate beneficiaries will be all actors involved in the horticulture sector – as well as the consumers. Initially, however, the Project has been working with individual actors (or clients) who have potential for piloting introductions. These have tended to be farming families involved in nursery and crop production as well as individual input suppliers and service providers.

The Project has always welcomed collaboration with other organizations and its keypartners currently comprise the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, CABI Bioscience (Switzerland) and other projects.

Although horticulture development is, by its nature, a medium to long-term undertaking, some results and encouraging trends can already be identified.