USAID promotes Albania’s olive industry

TIRANA, Oct 6 – USAID’s Albanian Agriculture Competitiveness Program held a workshop to discuss the strategic priorities for growth in Albania’s olive subsector.
Present were Minister of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection Genc Ruli and USAID/Albania Mission Director Roberta Mahoney.
The event tried to facilitate the policy dialogue between private and public subsector, and give olive producers, processors and traders the opportunity to find and propose solutions to the challenges related to the olive industry.
“Policy decisions made now will effect the future growth of Albania’s olive subsector,” said Mahoney in her remarks at the conference. “It is important to make these strategic decisions based on sound economic analysis that integrates input from farmers, traders and processors.”
USAID’s AAC program and lecturers from the Agricultural University of Tirana delivered presentations regarding the economic importance of the olive subsector, the current state of the global olive oil markets, and the competitiveness of the Albanian olive industry.
The presentations underscored the global trend towards increasing the efficiency of olive orchards, rather than to expand the area where the crop is grown.
The event concluded with presentations from private subsector groups that identified and prioritized key issues affecting the competitiveness of olive production and processing.
The proposals of the participants in the event will be presented to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection at the end of the month as the policy recommendations of the private subsector.