Swiss support promotes organic and typical agricultural products

TIRANA, May 14 – Organic agriculture and typical Albanian agricultural products have a future in the market place. This was the main message at a promotional event organized last week at premises of a trade centre outside Tirana where several products were exhibited. Present at the event were the Swiss Ambassador Yvana Enzler, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tokli Thomai, representatives from the Swiss Cooperation, business services providers and agribusiness producers.
“In order for Albanian agriculture to be competitive producers must enter local, regional and international markets with unique products that bear a certain identity and provide assurance to buyers”, said in her speech Swiss Ambassador Yvana Enzler. “I am convinced that with further work and support Albanian agricultural producers will be able to enter new markets and conduct successful business with EU countries,” added Ambassador Enzler.
“During the past years we’ve made substantial progress not just in the legal framework, but also in the modernization of the sectors and building of our reputation in international markets”, said the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Tokli Thomai. He also stressed that government policies and regulations have been designed to support the organic agricultural sector. “Our challenge in making this sector prosper remains instant, and I encourage all the actors involved in the sectors to look at the end user of the value chain (the customer) when designing their endeavors for their own success and that of the sector”, added Deputy Minister Thomai.
Some of the products exhibited at the event include herbs and medicinal plants, extra virgin olive oil, traditional Albanian pasta ‘jufka’, honey, wine, dried fruit and fruit juices. Whereas the majority of them enjoy steady domestic sales, some also have been successful in export markets in Western countries.
“We can safely say that there is now in this country an organic agriculture sector”, said Swiss Cooperation’s Director, Isabel Perich. “There are more opportunities to establish these products throughout the retail sector, and this is where the work of all the actors, including the Ministry, will be very valuable”, added Ms. Perich. She also mentioned that one of the successes of the Swiss-supported project was the establishment of local Albanian business service providers such as AlbInspect and BioAdria, that guarantee the organic agriculture sector will continue to progress.
In both international and local markets there is more demand for organic and naturally-made products and this means new opportunities for agricultural and agribusiness enterprises in the country. One of the achievements of the Swiss-funded sustainable agriculture project was the introduction of the Albanian Guarantee Standard, a certification scheme that includes inspection, certification and labelling of domestic products. Three seals of origin (logos) have been developed to denote various types of agricultural products including organic, typical and regional origin.
At the moment there are nine sales points that offer a variety of organic and typical products including a Health Corner at the Mercator supermarket located at City Park, and a Duty Free Shop at Tirana Airport ‘Mother Teresa’. Over the course of the project technical assistance was coupled with funding in order to support production, packaging, selling and marketing for client businesses.
Swiss support for the agricultural sector started in 2001 and the main focus was to establish a functional organic agriculture sector with the purpose of improving the rural economy. Throughout its activities the project infused a market-oriented methodology and introduced environmentally-friendly technologies. As a result more than 3,000 people working in agriculture have benefited whereas over 100 firms and enterprises have participated in new market development processes. In addition to assisting businesses an important outcome of this project was the establishment of Albanian certification and inspection bodies that can ensure adherence to EU standards.