MAMURRAS, Albania — With the pandemic and the
Ukraine conflict sending fertilizer prices
through the roof, Albanian farmer Alban Cakalli has turned to coffee, one of
the Balkan country’s great loves, to nourish his fields.
اضافة اعلان
The 38-year-old
farmer owns only half a hectare in the town of Mamurras in northwestern
Albania, but even still is unable to afford the chemical-based fertilizers
imported from abroad.
As in other parts
of the world, Albania’s agricultural sector has been battered by rising costs,
with fuel and fertiliser prices soaring after
Russia, a major producer of both
commodities, invaded Ukraine.
To curb
expenditures, Cakalli has turned to coffee grounds, a natural fertilizer with
readily available stocks in
Albania, where drinking the caffeinated beverage
remains a national pastime and cafes dot nearly every corner.
On an average day,
Cakalli says he is able to collect up to 40 kilograms of coffee grounds.
“The Albanians are
passionate about coffee,” he tells AFP from his farm.
The process is
time-consuming, requiring him to first collect the used beans before mixing the
grounds with herbs and later composting the concoction for three months.
But the final
product is “rich in nitrogen, magnesium and potassium and is a good substitute
for chemical fertilizers” and “repels insects,” says Cakalli.
Many of Albanian’s
280,000 small time farmers have returned to similar traditional methods to
enrich their soil rather than pay higher prices for imported fertilizers.
Quality counts
According to experts, fertilizers and fuels account for more than 45
percent of the costs in agricultural production in the country.
For decades,
Albania has relied on imports for fertilizer after its factories were largely
abandoned and slid into disrepair following the fall of its communist
government in the early 1990s.
Russia was the top
exporter of fertilizer to Albania last year, worth a total of $11 million,
according to the
UN’s trade database.
By switching to
coffee grounds, Cakalli says he saves between 1,500 and 2,000 euros per year.
As COVID disrupted
global trade, he has also diversified his operations in the field.
He now focuses on
growing exotic crops — including passion fruit and goji berries — after the
import of the fruits from South America were stopped during the pandemic just
as demand began to rise.
“These fruits were
in high demand because they are known to help boost the immune system and for
their antioxidant properties,” says his wife Juli, a 34-year-old nurse.
This year alone,
Cakalli has harvested a half tonne of passion fruit that sells for around 15
euros a kilo -- which is no small sum in Albania where the average salary is
460 euros.
“People like them
a lot, their smell is fantastic and even better than those of the countries of
origin because everything is fresh here,” says Cakalli.
Alban Zusi, an
entrepreneur who has been producing organic fertilizer from animal waste in
northern Albania’s Lezha, said the rise in prices has also come with “a silver
lining” and allowed farmers to return to their roots.
Others in the
industry tend to agree.
“Despite the
difficulties, there is no shortage of opportunities,” says Fatmir Ndoji, the
head chef of a well-known farm-to-table restaurant in the region. “To create
pleasure for the palate, what counts is quality.”
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