006-2012-10-NOA_Valbona_Ademi.docx

After a successful gherkin production last year, Valbona Ademi is also growing chili peppers for the first time, with USAID’s support.

Photo: New Opportunities for Agriculture Program Valbona Ademi, a wheat farmer from Fushe Kosova/Kosovo Polje, last year planted and sold gherkins for the first time with the help of USAID’s New Opportunities for Agriculture (NOA) Program. Valbona explains that “this is the first time we have been able to generate cash profits from the growing vegetables in the garden. The help given to us by NOA-USAID with methods, trellis, and seed have shown us a better way to help support our families”. She has also involved eight members of her family, and other neighboring women, in all aspects of gherkin production (planting, cultivating and harvesting).

Valbona sold all of her production to Koral, a gherkin processor in Fushe Kosova. Halfway through the season, sale of gherkins exceeded 2,720 euro, making more than enough to cover expenses and make a profit. Valbona attributes the success of her production to the newly learned mulching and drip irrigation system introduced by the NOA Program.

Kosovo women farmers are taking the lead in adopting the new trellis gherkin production technology. They play an essential role in gherkin production on all farms but some women farmers are becoming gherkin production specialists.

Pickle production in Kosovo is big business but farmers do not produce enough gherkins to meet industry needs. As recently as 2011, Kosovo processors imported gherkins from countries as far away as India. Gherkins are young cucumbers from 4-8 cm in length that are used primarily in pickle production. A project involving 23 farms was established by NOA implemented by the Rural Development Center (RDC). All the farms are family farms, while two of the farms are managed exclusively by women and two are managed by husband-wife teams.

Women are leading the way in trellised gherkin production to make Kosovo self-sufficient in gherkins for processing. This year Valbona is also a pioneer women farmer in the cultivation of new chili pepper varieties with USAID’s support.

WOMEN FARMERS MAKE MONEY ON TRELLISED GHERKINS

U.S. Agency for International Development www.usaid.gov image1.jpeg image2.emf image3.png