TIRANA, Nov. 29 – Drought and fires seen this year across Albania have damaged wild plants collected for their medicinal and aromatic properties, bringing hardship to hundreds of families who make a living off their collection.
Albania is one of the largest exporters of such medicinal plants in Europe, including these plants being the country’s largest exports to the United States, where the plants go into things ranging from cosmetics to fast food sauces.
In southern Albania’s Gjirokastra County, about 30 percent of households in rural areas that do not own agricultural land get income from that collection.
Medicinal plant collectors set out for the southern highlands to make a living as collection points gradually attract the production of sage, mountain tea and other medicinal plants that are collected for export.
Last year was the worst one in a long time.
“The drought did not allow the development of plants and the fires damaged large areas,” Hektor Shehu, a collector, said. “We collect wild plants in nature and the consequences on nature are also consequences for collectors.”
Another factor making life harder is migration away from rural areas and lack of desire among young people to do the hard work of collecting the plants.
Lulezim Shuka, professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Tirana, says global warming is increasingly affecting the extinction of medicinal plant habitats.
“A negative factor that leads to the reduction of medicinal plants is the global warming and the prolonged drought that is often happening these last 10 years mainly in July-August, September, but this year also in October,” the professor says.
He adds that measurements show that the water saturation in the lands in question is twice as low as the minimum they usually hold during July and August.
“This means that the prolongation of the drought by two more months with the high temperatures in the Mediterranean are leading to the extinction of the habitats of these plants,” he said.
Shuka noted other factors that affect both in the south and in the north of the country in the reduction of medical and aromatic resources:
“The great impact on medicinal plants is expressed in the changes that occur in the structure of the vegetation of the habitats where these plants grow,” he added.
A third factor that has damaged large amounts of land in Albania are fires, which are becoming more frequent due to higher temperatures.
Nationwide, according to a report by the Albanian Investment Agency, about 85,000 people work in the medicinal plant industry, while the country has 31 exporting companies, of which 15 are large exporters.
According to the report, more than 400 species have been identified as aromatic medicinal plants of the Albanian flora from which more than 200 species are collected and traded.
Meanwhile, exporters say that they are relying not only on this way of collecting medicinal plants in the wild, but also on the cultivation of plants.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the German Agency for International Development (GIZ) have managed programs to assist the industry at all chains over the years due to its wide impact in Albania’s rural communities and long-term impact as a sustainable developer.
According to official data in 2020, exports of medicinal and aromatic plants exceeded $55 million.
This story includes reporting from VoA’s Albanian Service.
