Agriculture in North Macedonia

The continental and sub-Mediterranean climates in the country allows for a great diversity of output, but the pronounced terrain creates areas that are unexploitable for farmers.

In order to face up to financial difficulties, the Sultan privatised some Macedonian land and offered certain properties (Chiflik) to former soldiers, who gained all the rights to their estate and the peasants who lived there.

Many Christian peasants fled the agricultural lands of the valleys once again to join the Hajduks, groups of outlaws who spread trouble on trade routes.

[4] Up to the 19th century, while the region opened itself up to the East, the local economy collapsed, notably because of American and Indian competition on the cotton and cereal markets.

[10] After the Second World War, the Communist regime began a vast re-planning of agriculture, a sector still largely dominant in the Macedonian economy.

The properties of exiles, foreigners, monasteries, formerly private companies, and banks, were nationalised, and half of the total was allocated to farmers who had supported the fight against fascism.

The naming dispute with Greece, as well as the Yugoslav Wars lost Macedonia its main port of exportation, Thessaloniki, and prevented trade with neighbouring Serbia.

[15] The naming dispute drew to a close in 1995, but in 1999, the Kosovo War heavily influenced the Macedonian economy, because it could no longer export goods to the countries of the former Yugoslavia, and had to find alternative customers, such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece.

[17] The country mainly produces cereals, especially wheat, maize, oats, and rice, and also vegetables, such as tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, onions, cabbages, and melons.

Tobacco, opium poppies, and fruits such as apples, pears, prunes, cherries, apricots, peaches, nuts, and grapes — especially for the production of wine — are also grown.