Sunflower harvest in Albania
30 September 2004
Beneficiaries
of UMCOR Albania's "Sunflower Production Support
Program" have successfully harvested their first crop of
sunflowers. The farmers started gathering the sunflower
seeds at the end of August and both harvest and threshing
have now been completed.
One aim of the program is to identify the
best oil-grade sunflower hybrids for Albanian conditions.
With this in mind, seed samples from the harvest have been
sent to a partner organization, the Novi Sad Research
Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Serbia (http://www.ifvcns.co.yu)
for analysis. UMCOR will register the best hybrid seeds
with the Albanian National Seed Institute.
Farmers, representatives from the National
Seed Institute of Albania, the director of Lushnja
Institute and staff members from UMCOR Albania travelled
to Novi Sad to take part in the "International Maize,
Sunflower, Sugar Beet, Soybean and Sorghum Field Day" from 07 - 09
September 2004. More than 350 guests from 20 countries
attended the event.
 After just one year of experience in the
cultivation of sunflower in Albania, the conference came
at a good time for UMCOR, our partners and our
beneficiaries and will help with plans for the coming
year. It was also a real boost for the farmers themselves
as they were able to discuss their concerns and needs with
experts, while at the same time, see for themselves the
interest of the foreign community in sunflower production.
During the conference, the farmers visited demonstration
plots (see photo above) belonging to the Novi Sad Research Institute, which
they found both interesting and useful.
The seed industry is important for the
economy of Albania so the visit to the Institute at Novi
Sad proved to be extremely constructive for staff of
National Seed Institute of Albania. It is hoped that this
meeting will enable better international links and
cooperation between producers and research institutes as
well as creating opportunities for training and further
development. |
