There are currently around 300 hectares of land with olive plantations in Herzegovina. Olive growing in that part of our country is expanding, and the recently officially opened Center for Olive Growing of the City of Mostar will greatly contribute to a better approach to the cultivation of this culture since, in addition to research, it will also have an educational function.
The center, located in the town of Buna near Mostar, has a modern laboratory and a meteorological station. The plan is to provide olive growers with many services and information. They also planted a sample olive grove with about 20 varieties, which will be useful for olive growers to establish their own groves.
“We planted Spanish, Greek, Italian, domestic cultivars. According to the speed of growth and the observed results of growth, the best varieties proved to be koroneiki – a Greek olive that has been planted for a long time”, explains Bojan Spasojević, head of the Olive Growing Center.
All this is the result of cross-border cooperation and the regional IPA project in order to strengthen olive growing in these areas. It is already known that Herzegovinian olive oil is of high quality, but olive growing in Herzegovina is more than a thousand years old.
“We are now practically returning olive cultivation to these areas and we see that people are growing olives again – because it has been shown that olives from this area, practically the same variety as in the surrounding area, show better properties, more healing properties of olive oil”, points out the representative of the Agroherc organic company, Ramiz Zaimovic.
That is why, among other things, the Center for Olive Growing was founded and intensive work was done on the project, which includes Croatia and Montenegro in addition to our country. The project was realized with the help of the FBiH Chamber of Commerce.
“What we have tried through this project is to keep our autochthonous varieties of olives in the area of Herzegovina, but also to introduce some new ones, all with the aim of determining which ones are most suitable for our area, and ultimately getting the best quality oil,” says Mia Glamuzina, director of the Economic and Legal Sector of the FBiH Chamber of Commerce.
However, there is a lot of work to be done for a serious olive tree story. Olive growers expect help from the Center, especially when it comes to new technologies and educating olive growers. A very important segment is the protection of the origin, i.e. the originality, but also the commercialization of olive oil, which is intensively dealt with by the Herzegovinian Association of Olive Growers.
“Now, if you want to buy this quality Herzegovinian olive oil, it is not available on the market. You can visit all stores in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and in the world. Where can you buy olive oil from Herzegovina on the shelves? He is gone, and we keep saying that he is fine. People are on a level – I have some olives at home, so I process them – but we don’t have an official brand,” notes Zaimović.
Oil on store shelves would round off and make this olive story more serious. In this regard, the olive growers expect help from the Center, for the construction of which around 530 thousand marks were invested through the IPA project thanks to the funds of the European Union. The city of Mostar financed additional works, such as the construction of wells and a water supply system. He also played a key role in networking local olive growers, Federalna writes.
