TIRANA, August 27/ATA/ Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Milva Ekonomi highlighted today the example of an Albanian emigrant, who thanks to the support of the Rural Agricultural Development Agency (ARDA) has set up a collection point of chestnuts in Tropoja where he has employed about 3,000 local people of the area.
“When I started to get involved in this sector I had little or no knowledge of what was happening in Albania. I had previously worked in Kosovo as a translator for the Italian Carabinieri in their mission, and then managed two foundries dealing with aluminum and lead. When things went bad, I turned my eyes toward agriculture. I left for Berlin to participate in the largest Fruit and Vegetable Fair which takes place every year in February. I looked carefully at what the market offered, the demands they had for agricultural produce and I focus on two: Watermelon and Onions. I established cooperation with one of the Balkan countries and thus started the first watermelon exports in cooperation with Albanian farmers. Despite the difficulties of the beginning, things are going well and currently we have increased the area and its production with all the farmers of Imshta (Lushnjë), Katund i Ri (Durrës) and not only”, he said.
He also emphasized that in recent years he has focused on chestnuts where at the point raised thanks to the support of ARDA has increased production for export and has employed 3 thousand local inhabitants of the area.
“Meanwhile, in recent years I have focused on chestnuts, a product on high demand in Europe. I started with Italy, to continue with Hungary and other countries, where we have been able to export approximately 1,500 tons per year. The potential is to increase this amount; especially with the latest developments where through the help we have received from the state (ARDA) to set up a collection point in the area of Tropoja, our work has become a lot easier. The area has a great potential in the production of chestnuts, we have currently generated jobs for about 3,000 people in this area and I am convinced that production will increase and consequently the export “, he said.
“Meanwhile, taking advantage of the new storage conditions with refrigerators supported through the National Scheme, the conditions were created for me to start collecting blueberries from the Tropoja mountain, a produce which is located at an altitude of over 1500 m above sea level and is successfully exported to Italy,” he said. /a.a/p.s./
