By Altin Fuga
Tirana, June 6. The Albanian Ministry of Agriculture organised a modest fair to present products grown by Albanian wine producers. The Minister of Agriculture, Jemin Gjana, visited the fair and congratulated the participants, who represented more than a dozen Albanian wineries. Minister Gjana added that the Albanian media is not doing enough to publicize the quality of Albanian wines and, in general, Albanian agricultural productions.
According to Gjana, the quality and quantity of Albanian wines is, first of all, dependent upon the investments of the Albanian government in farmers and wineries. In the last two years, the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture has allocated only US $3 million to help the Albanian wine producers. Currently, the country has some 11,000 hectares of vineyards with 700-800 hectares of new vineyards are added each year.
Albania produced huge quantities of grapes, both for fruit and wine production, during the Communist era. However, the vineyards were almost completely destroyed during the distribution of land in the early 1990s.
60 percent of wine is imported
It is calculated that Albania imports, each year, almost 60 percent of the wine consumed in the country. Albanians consume some 40,000 hectolitres per year while domestic production is only 16,000 hectolitres per year. Currently, Albania has 22 small wine producers that struggle to compete with established wineries from Italy and other countries.
The agriculture needs US $150 million
The Albanian government announced, some days ago, that it is going to allocate nearly US $22 million in 2009 for the development of agriculture. However, Albanian farmers are not satisfied with the support plans laid down by the Berisha government. The Albanian Agricultural Business Council has calculated that Albanian agriculture needs at least US $ 150 million in order to be pulled from its stagnation. Albanian farmers claim that the decrease in agricultural and food prices in recent weeks is seasonal and temporary. “The increase of domestic production is going to reduce prices and, consequently, inflation, increasing, at the same time, the quality of agricultural products traded in the country”, said Enver Harizaj, the chair of the Albanian Agricultural Business Council.
