BiH exported more than two million BAM of Immortelle products to market of Western Europe and America last year, said Deputy Secretary General of Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH (VTKBiH) Zdravko Marinković.
Before the beginning of roundtable on “Immortelle in BiH”, which was organized by the Foreign Trade Chamber VTKBiH and USAID/Sida FARMA project, Marinković said that it is not a big export in a financial sense, but it is a potential which can be a backbone of development and employment of village population.
”Immortelle is a culture which is recognized as very important for area of Herzegovina and for the overall BiH export, but also from the aspect of social policy, employment and development of rural areas”, emphasized Marinković.
He said that in climate sense this plant is very interesting for area of Herzegovina.
”It has been exploited from the forests lately, which due to lack of expertise in exploitation, led to devastation of this plant in its habitat”, said Marinković, adding that farmers in BiH are trying to get organized and cultivate this plant, so it is planted on around 400 dunams of land.
Consultant in sector of medicinal herbs Slobodanka Popović – Čomić said that habitat of Immortelle is Dalmatia and Herzegovina, but lately the plant can rarely be found in nature because of uncontrolled exploitation.
”Some 15 years ago the purchase price was 0.30 BAM, whereas kilo of raw Immortelle is 2.70 or 3 BAM today, which is why there is not enough of it in nature, and demand is growing. Immortelle is on the list of endangered plants, because it is exploited almost the entire year. People are not paying attention to the environment due to market needs, but they exploit Immortelle even when there is no flower”, said Popović-Čomić.
She added the state, in order to protect this plant, which can still be found in certain parts of Herzegovina, should have limited the period when Immortelle can be collected.
Immortelle is also very appreciated in Europe and America, and the world demand for Immortelle essential oils is constantly growing. Thanks to the top quality, Herzegovina, after Corsica, is a leading region in production of Immortelle for the global market.
Immortelle oil that is produced in BiH is raw for technologies the West has and it is widely applied in the pharmacy. It is used in cosmetics, and it is used raw for tea, and creams for skin regeneration.
Director of company “Roing“ d.o.o. Ljubuški Nikola Rozić said that Immortelle is autochthonous plant in Herzegovina and that it could be one of our brands, but it needs to be cultivated strictly ecologically and organically.
Due to lack of Immortelle in nature, he added, “Roing“ is among the first companies in BiH that started cultivating that plant, after producers from Corsica shared their experiences in 2011.
”Now we have eight hectares of planted Immortelle”, said Rozić.
(Source: Fena)
