020-Snapshot_chamomile.doc

ISTOG/ISTOK, Kosovo—Chamomile is more than just a cup of tea. USAID is helping Kosovo meet burgeoning global demand for the flower, a soothing and delicately fragrant ingredient used in hundreds of natural cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements.

In 2012, USAID, through its New Opportunities for Agriculture (NOA) project, supported the planting of 38 hectares (94 acres) of chamomile here, in western Kosovo. USAID seeks to diversify and increase agricultural production in Kosovo, generating jobs, growth and exports.

However, expanding Kosovo’s chamomile crop even further had been hampered by a lack of processing capacity, specifically in drying the flowers. Chamomile must be dried immediately following its harvest, which occurs during a narrow, three-week window.

To relieve this bottleneck, USAID also provided grants to two chamomile growers and processors to install large, high-efficiency drying chambers. The assistance is already increasing the volume of chamomile (and other dried medicinal and aromatic plants) available for sale on world markets. It should lead to further expansion too of the area under cultivation.

Agroproduct sh.p.k., the larger of USAID’s two client firms, now forecasts processing 12,000 kilograms of dried chamomile in 2013—a tenfold increase over the previous year, company manager Halit Avdijaj said.

“We have lists of customers waiting for more chamomile,” said Avdijaj. “Our main problem was the lack of drying capacity.”

The new drying chambers, installed at Agroproduct and Driardi, the second grower and processor, blow hot air over knee-deep piles of the freshly harvested chamomile for up to 30 hours. The whole dried plant is used, later undergoing further processing to yield everything from tea to essential oils. Premium dried product sells for as much as 11 Euros a kilogram.

Switzerland’s Weleda AG, a manufacturer of all-natural skin creams, soaps, baby balms and other products, has emerged as a major buyer in Kosovo. Weleda currently seeks to source as much as two-thirds of its chamomile from Kosovo, replacing other sources in South America and North Africa, said Eva Maria Walle, a medicinal plant cultivation expert for the 324 million Euro firm.

“We have found real quality here,” Walle said during a visit to Agroproduct, which also supplies Weleda with multiple other dried medicinal and aromatic plants, commonly referred to as MAPs.

Beyond chamomile, Kosovo produces first-class peppermint, oregano, marsh mallow and lemon balm. Overall, USAID/NOA forecasts Kosovo could sustain 500 hectares of MAP cultivation.

At Agroproduct, exports are fueling a projected 40% growth in sales, to 1.5 million Euros in 2013. That growth should lead to increases in hiring, beyond the 20 full-time and 300 seasonal workers, as well as 3,225 part-time field collectors, it currently employs, Avdijaj said.

Meanwhile, at Driardi, Afrim Mehmetaj and his brothers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude as they bring in and dry their first chamomile harvest. “As long as we earn more than the 400 Euros a hectare we do growing wheat, we’ll be OK,” a confident Mehmetaj told a visitor, pausing in the stream of warm, moist and chamomile-scented air blowing from Driardi’s new drying chamber.