prijava
MOSTAR, November 14 (FENA) - Today, the region of Herzegovina has about 350 hectares of olive groves with about 90,000 olive trees, of which 70,000 are in bloom, with five processing plants - oil mills.
Olive oils produced in Bosnia and Herzegovina are of high value and have won numerous awards in the region and beyond, told FENA the FBiH Agro-Mediterranean Institute in Mostar.
The oil mills are located in Stolac, Mostar, Čapljina, with two of them in Ljubuski, where the largest olive grove is currently located.
"There are more than 200 olive growers in Herzegovina who are engaged in olive growing on areas larger than 0.3 hectares up to tens of hectares, and currently the largest olive grove is located in Ljubuški, with an area of 50 hectares. In addition to the above, there are also hobby olive growers who have a couple of olive trees in their backyards and often in practice process their oil in the Stolac oil mill in order to obtain the best quality oil from their fruits," the Institute states.
Domestic production meets the current needs of the population, and depending on the year, exports are also represented, which sometimes amount to a few thousand liters. Consumption per person in BiH to date has been 0.24 liters, but there is a significant increase in consumption, which, as they say from the Institute, is the goal of promoting this product.
They point out that olive oils from BiH are highly valued in the region, which is shown by numerous awards that our olive growers win in the Republic of Croatia and beyond, such as a global meetup the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in New York where they regularly win gold medals.
When it comes to the import of olive oil, it is mostly based on imports from the leading countries in olive growing, and these are primarily Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey.
Due to the new situation with the Covid pandemic, the event "Olive Harvest Days 2021" will not be held according to the plan.
As they emphasized, the region of Herzegovina has its own specifics, as it is located in the marginal areas of the olive growing area and as such bases its olive growing on the Neretva river basin with tributaries Trebižet and Trebišnjica.
Herzegovina as a region in the foreseeable future will work to protect the geographical indication as a collective marketing tool that can be used to protect and promote olive products, as well as to improve the provision of public goods, such as food heritage, landscape, traditional knowledge and general rural economy.
However, Herzegovina as a region is already included in the listing of olive growing "FLOS OLEI", which is represented in 50 countries around the world and is translated into English and Chinese," explained the FBiH Agro-Mediterranean Institute.
(FENA) S. R.
