Montenegro’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched a campaign on 5 November 2026 to prepare farmers for the opportunities and obligations of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The initiative is intended to reach producers across the country as Montenegro prepares its agriculture sector for EU membership.
Called CAP for all: From our farms towards a European future, the campaign will use information activities and direct communication with producers to explain the policy. It is intended to improve farmers’ understanding of the possibilities and obligations that EU membership would bring.
Agriculture Minister Vladimir Joković said preparation requires joint work by institutions, advisory services and farmers, along with timely information and adaptation to future business conditions. “Montenegro’s agricultural future in Europe is built on our farms through knowledge, preparation and joint work,” he said.
The ministry is working to strengthen institutional capacity, improve records and registers, align domestic production with European standards and prepare the strategic framework for applying the CAP. Joković said farmers should receive accurate information and that the ministry should avoid creating unrealistic expectations about support measures and amounts that have not yet been set.
The ministry plans to provide reliable, understandable information through its services and cooperation with international partners, regardless of the size of a farm or where it operates. The campaign is aimed at producers throughout Montenegro, including small family farms and those in remote rural areas.
Requirements for future support
Miroslav Cimbaljević, the ministry’s director-general for agriculture, presented the CAP and discussed the current position of Montenegrin agriculture, obligations in the EU accession process and the support model expected after membership. He said the policy involves more than increased spending on agriculture.
The CAP also offers the prospect of a more organised and predictable support system, opportunities for investment and rural development, and clear conditions and accountability for recipients of funds, Cimbaljević said. The policy’s future application will depend on several institutional and production requirements.
Among the prerequisites he identified were a functioning system for identifying agricultural parcels, stronger institutions to manage European funds, developed advisory services and production adapted to European standards. These requirements form part of the preparations described by the ministry alongside work on records, registers and institutional capacity.
Jovana Šuković, the FAO representative in Montenegro, highlighted the organisations’ longstanding partnership in agricultural and rural development and in strengthening institutional capacity. “Institutions alone are not enough to be ready. Farmers must be ready too,” she said, stressing that information should reach small family farms and the most remote rural areas.
The campaign is scheduled to continue until the end of January 2027. Its message to producers is: “Get informed today to be ready for tomorrow.”
