Chestnuts, Tropoja’s bread tree at risk following decades of neglect

TIRANA, Jan. 11 – The Tropoja chestnuts, found in massive plantations in northeastern Albania, are rapidly penetrating EU markets as the best that Albania produces, with Italy on top of list, but  decades-long neglect over the characteristic local fruit is turning into a missed opportunity for the local community. One of the country’s poorest, the region of Tropoja and its 21,000 resident population mainly rely on agriculture and the emerging mountain tourism industry along the Valbona Valley, one of the country’s most attractive areas. The region also boasts the country’s largest chestnut plantations, estimated at 2,500 hectares, about a fifth…