PROFITABILITY OF DAIRY FARMS IN CENTRAL KOSOVO

摘要

This research is conducted with a sample of dairy farmers - beneficiaries of direct payments for milk quality in Central Kosovo, respectively in the region of Pristina. It is aimed to provide a better understanding of the operations of those farms, and also to measure their competitiveness by using profitability ratios. In Kosovo the average production goes up to 3050l, while in the sampled farms the average was 4480l. Holstein Frisian and Simmental are the most used cow breeds in Kosovo, and also in this study. The sample is derived from the list of beneficiaries’ farms of direct payments for milk quality in Central Kosovo, respectively in the region of Pristina. Results showed that mid-size farms (10-25 heads) and large farms (25 heads) tend to have higher profitability and efficiency than small farms (1-10 heads). Generally, all farms had low labour productivity and low asset turnover. Feed cost has the highest portion of the total cost (up to 72%), and with a given cost of production (av. 0.25 Euro), and selling price (av. 0.30 Euro), direct payments contribute with 21.4% to incomes from the milk.