023-Snapshot_berry_promotion_days.doc

PRISTINA, Kosovo—Fresh, domestically grown strawberries, blackberries and raspberries won plenty of new fans during an August promotional event that highlighted Kosovo’s expanded berry crop. Farmers from around Kosovo sold more than 6 tons of their fresh berries at the event.

USAID helped organize the 10-day event in downtown Pristina to raise consumer awareness of the growing availability of greater varieties of cultivated berries, as well as wild blueberries. The event also served to encourage farmers to expand their cultivation of these high-margin crops.

As Sanije Salihu passed the event on a recent morning, her three children, ages 4, 8 and 10, made a beeline for the neat stacks of plastic clamshells filled with berries.

“The kids asked to buy some because it’s not something we normally get to eat,” said Salihu, before heading off to snack on two packages of blackberries and raspberries.

USAID has invested in developing Kosovo’s berry industry partly through the introduction of new varieties. These include new raspberry and strawberry varieties that ripen well into the fall, as well as cultivated blueberries. (The first commercial blueberry harvest will occur in 2014.)

“I have just tasted several of the fruits and they are world-class—top quality,” USAID Kosovo Deputy Mission Director Chris Edwards told reporters visiting the event.

USAID has also invested in introducing advanced growing technologies, including trellising and irrigation. Ramize Dermaku said his 1.5 acres (0.6 hectares) of raspberries in Kamenicë/Kosovska Kamenica yield 60% more crop since he installed a drip-irrigation system with USAID’s assistance.

Overall, USAID’s intervention has expanded the seasonal availability of larger volumes of an increased mix of fresh berries, establishing the kind of sustained and reliable presence of quality product that leads to increased local, regional and eventually European sales, said Mark Wood, director of USAID’s New Opportunities for Agriculture project.

Meanwhile, the profits farmers are earning from berries have spurred them to expand their acreage under cultivation, Kosovo Agriculture Minister Blerand Stavileci told reporters. Positive consumer response to the event will only further encourage that expansion, he added.

“I think it’s not only an experiment, it’s the future,” said Muhamet Duka, who just produced his second crop of Polka and Tulameen variety raspberries on 1.7 acres (0.7 hectares) of land in Shtërpcë/Strpce. “It’s a real way of earning a living.”