Successful farmers thanks to their hard work and the government support. Such as is Ylvi Bylykbashi in the village of Shamoll, Korça district, whose farm is a model that guarantees success, not only in the area, but anywhere apple growers are found throughout the country and a broader region.
“This farm grows a variety of apples, cherries and pears, but mainly apples, and it has benefited funding under National Agricultural Support Scheme for purchase of anti-hail mesh designed to protect fruits and crops against hail effects. The farm owner has 20 years of work experience as part of the Crossborder projects. He is a very active farmer and he has again applied for support under the IPARD programme, presenting a project to protect his product,” the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Milva Ekonomi said as she accompanied Prime Minister Edi Rama during a visit to the farm.
The farm owner, also the head of the Union of the Apple Growers in the Region, says that the funding he has gained through the support schemes has been vital to product protection from the changing weather. “This is the largest apple orchard of nearly 20 hectares in Albania. Planting the apple trees encompasses a four year commitment through the government support,” Bylykbashi said. “We have benefited support for expansion of our apple orchard by around five more hectares, where we will plant more trees, support for droplet irrigation method, and funding for anti-hail mesh to protect fruits from hail effects in an area of over 4 hectares. Climate change has made weather unpredictable and Korça farmers – since I am the head of the Union of the Apple Growers in the Region, as well as the owner of this apple orchard – suffer a lot from the hail damages and we applied for funding under the national schemes to cover the orchard with anti-hail mesh.”
Based on long work experience in agriculture and as a sought-after producer in the market, Bylykbashi claims that the key to success for farmers as a whole is their unification. “We have to grow high quality products, meeting best quality standards and we have to plant the cultivar most sought by the market. I call on farmers to join their forces and create larger successful farms,” he said.
Describing Ylvi’s farm as a spectacular enterprise in terms of its management, the Premier said that the government will always support such successful models that serve as model for others. “The government has clearly demonstrated its commitment to strongly support all those who are somehow the locomotives of this sector and that pull a long train of wagons by setting examples and making clear to everyone that if they join forces, which doesn’t mean to collectivize the land like it was the communist-era collectivism, but to join forces and skills and agree on what to plant and grow and together sell entire production, because as such farmers become a stronger negotiating force, the Premier said, describing Ylvi’s investment as a spectacular one, not only in terms of production, but also in terms of management.
