TIRANA, May 12 – Agriculture Minister Edmond Panariti has called on farmers to cultivate local medicinal plants instead of imported seeds.
Speaking at a conference with the association of collectors, processors and exporters of medicinal plants, Panariti said foreign markets demand indigenous medicinal plants.
“There is no comparison between our indigenous sage medicinal plant and the Dutch seed. Using imported seeds was a grave mistake. That’s why we will focus on promoting farms cultivating indigenous seeds,” said Panariti.
The Association, representing 90,000 collectors, processors and exporters in Albania, the overwhelming majority of which are destined for the U.S. market, has called on government to support them with a package of incentives just as they did with the garment and footwear industry.
Albania’s exports of medicinal plants, one of the country’s top agriculture products, continued increasing even in 2014.
Data published by the country’s state statistical institute, INSTAT, shows exports of “oil seeds, industrial and medicinal plants and straw” within which medicinal plants accounts for the overwhelming majority, rose to a record high of 12,894 tonnes, worth 3.68 billion lek (Euro 25.8 million) in 2014, up from 12,262 tonnes worth 3.55 billion lek (Euro 24.9 million) in 2013.
In communist times, Albania earned about $50 million a year exporting medicinal herbs, and the sector employed roughly 100,000 people. Experts say that if the plants were cultivated instead of being picked wild as they have been so far, the harvest could be increased as much as six fold.
