Nations emerging from recent conflicts, failed communist economies, and political rearrangement in South-central and Eastern Europe have been crippled with shuttered industries, collapsed infrastructure, high unemployment, and low GDP. Rural communities in these regions are particularly desperate for new direction, investment, and opportunity. I recently returned from Former Soviet Moldova where 17% of the GDP is based on agricultural production and food processing. Agricultural product represents 50% of exports, but farming has long been in decline, as large state farms and centralized agricultural systems have deteriorated or been abandoned. Labor has fled the country for employment opportunity in the West. 38% of Moldova’s GDP this past year was from stipends sent home from family members working abroad. Rural villages with a farming tradition are now disproportionately populated by the elderly and women. Investment in small production units of high-value "cash" products for domestic markets, and larger commercial production of the same products for targeted export, could have a positive impact in beginning to rebuild an agricultural economy for countries like Moldova. The immediate opportunity presented by increased demand for hand-harvested fresh-market berries in Europe could make a large contribution towards this goal.
In the Republic of Georgia, after several years of USAID supported exploratory efforts, the first fledgling private farms to reclaim abandoned State tea plantation land shipped 60 tons of highbush blueberries to Western markets in 2013, and an additional 250 acres of new blueberry plantation was established. Former small-farm stakeholders of USAID berry development projects in Serbia banded together in Bajina Basta to form an association, built a small cold-storage facility, and this year sold their blueberry harvest to eager buyers in Germany for $3.75/lb. In Kosovo, raspberry farmers are realizing that their traditional hand-harvested fruit-for-process is rapidly becoming non-competitive with machine harvested raspberries from larger farms in Poland and other production areas in Europe. USAID’s NOA project is assisting these farmers to transition to new varieties suitable for fresh markets where they are realizing an 8 to 10 fold increase in the prices they are paid.
Janet and I vacationed in the Balkans during September and had the opportunity to visit farmers I had worked with several years ago to establish blueberry crops. Has our effort made a difference? One young family reported that during the last two years their farm income had doubled as the result of entering blueberry markets. "...and the village?", I asked. "When the blueberry project began there were five farms planting this new crop." my friend replied. "Now there are more than twenty. Blueberries are making a big difference for all of us."
Berries: high-value, labor-intensive, economically sustainable on small areas—the perfect family-farm enterprise— and an exciting development opportunity making a difference in Eastern Europe.
In the Republic of Georgia, after several years of USAID supported exploratory efforts, the first fledgling private farms to reclaim abandoned State tea plantation land shipped 60 tons of highbush blueberries to Western markets in 2013, and an additional 250 acres of new blueberry plantation was established. Former small-farm stakeholders of USAID berry development projects in Serbia banded together in Bajina Basta to form an association, built a small cold-storage facility, and this year sold their blueberry harvest to eager buyers in Germany for $3.75/lb. In Kosovo, raspberry farmers are realizing that their traditional hand-harvested fruit-for-process is rapidly becoming non-competitive with machine harvested raspberries from larger farms in Poland and other production areas in Europe. USAID’s NOA project is assisting these farmers to transition to new varieties suitable for fresh markets where they are realizing an 8 to 10 fold increase in the prices they are paid.
Janet and I vacationed in the Balkans during September and had the opportunity to visit farmers I had worked with several years ago to establish blueberry crops. Has our effort made a difference? One young family reported that during the last two years their farm income had doubled as the result of entering blueberry markets. "...and the village?", I asked. "When the blueberry project began there were five farms planting this new crop." my friend replied. "Now there are more than twenty. Blueberries are making a big difference for all of us."
Berries: high-value, labor-intensive, economically sustainable on small areas—the perfect family-farm enterprise— and an exciting development opportunity making a difference in Eastern Europe.
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