Food Industry – Albania is Europe’s secret treasure

Albanian agriculture has seen extreme growth in the in the last few years, especially when it comes to greenhouse production. Foreign investors and the government have been doing a lot to help put Albania on the map for fruit and vegetable production.

“With our great climate, low prices and hard workers, Albania is the secret treasure of Europe. I am convinced that there will be a time when everyone will know, but in the meantime we need to cooperate with the western countries to continue with a good pace of growth,” shared Edona Blakaj from Connect Albania.

The Ministry of Agriculture recently helped the country achieve 1000 hectares of greenhouses, which was a big boost for production. This has made it possible for the country to have year round greenhouse production of cucumbers, zucchini, capsicum, broccoli, cauliflower, kaki and tomatoes, along with open field production of leek, cabbage, blueberries wild and cultivated, raspberry, chestnut, pine nuts and truffles. For seasonal products, the season is just starting for watermelons.

“The strawberries coming out of Albania are first class. Most of the Albanian growers worked in Greece in the past which helped them gain knowledge about production before starting for themselves. We have the climate, good soil, along with intelligent and honest business people to become the next Italy in terms of production, but now it is just about overcoming past political turmoil for our people to gain the belief that they are good enough for markets beyond Albania,” Edona continued.

“Along with supplying neighbouring countries around Albania, we have had a lot of interest from Italy, which has started importing our products. The next step is to help boost the Albanian economy by helping connect producers with Dutch partners and beyond.”