Govt facilitates planting of olive, nut trees

TIRANA, May 4 – Government approved on Wednesday a decision facilitating the transfer of wood and pasture areas into agricultural land. The decision was made in the frame of the national program to increase olive and nut tree areas all over Albania.
The decision benefits both private owners and local government units managing these land resources and is an administrative facilitation to register them in immovable property offices.
More than 8,000 farmers nationwide have applied to benefit agricultural subsidies during this year, according to Agriculture Ministry sources. The subsidies which are being granted on cattle, greenhouse crops, bio-farms and the agri-processing industry assisting farmers with interest-free loans.
Sources say the 2010 fund was 15 million dollars, 40 percent of which was used to support the national olive tree programme.
The ministry says some 2,000 new hectares of olive groves, 275 hectares of grapes and 550 hectares of fruit trees were planted in 2010 under state support schemes.
The 2011 budget will continue supporting Albanian farmers with subsidies even for newly included nut trees such as hazelnut, almond, chestnut, pomegranates apart from the national programme of olive.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced the launch of a nut tree cultivation national programme, which he described as the second most important after the olive tree programme. Berisha said government would do its utmost to support the planting of at least 30 million nut trees, including hazelnut, almond, chestnut, pomegranates in the next four years.