Producers in Herzegovina Celebrate New PDO

Local officials say the Zlatne Kapi Protected Designation of Origin will raise the profile of local olive oils and promote tourism.

Near Prozor, Bosnia and Herzegovina
By Nedjeljko Jusup
Sep. 18, 2024 18:31 UTC
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Near Prozor, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Olive grow­ers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a west­ern Balkan coun­try, are cel­e­brat­ing the announce­ment of the coun­try’s first Protected Designation of Origin-cer­ti­fied extra vir­gin olive oil: Zlatne Kapi Herzegovina.

The farm­ers and offi­cials who con­tributed to the PDO’s cre­ation attended a ded­i­cated cer­e­mony in Mostar, the largest city in the south­ern region of Herzegovina.

We are focus­ing on pro­mot­ing the Zlatne Kapi PDO and devel­op­ing olive oil tourism through project through projects such as the Olive Oil Road of Herzegovina.- Josip Matić, pres­i­dent, Herzegovinian Olive Growers and Oil Producers Association

The hosts empha­sized the role of the United States, which, through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) sus­tain­able tourism project, works to pro­tect and pro­mote Bosnia and Herzegovina’s unique culi­nary prod­ucts.

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Ceremony in Mostar to inaugurate the Zlatne Kapi PDO

The mark of authen­tic­ity means a lot to us. Our oils will now go to the mar­kets more eas­ily. Olive grow­ing has a future in Herzegovina; we have oils of excep­tional qual­ity,” said Dragan Musa, owner of a grove of around 900 olive trees in Miloševići.

See Also:Record Harvest in Herzegovina Heralds Expansion of Olive Growing

Musa’s words were sup­ported by Ivan Milas Musa, who also expects a solid har­vest and top-qual­ity oil this year.

The pro­tected geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tion means a lot for all cur­rent and future olive grow­ers, and the Zlatne kapi Herzegovina brand will help regional and global suc­cess,” Milas said. We can com­pete with global brands because wher­ever we appear, we get awards.”

For exam­ple, the Škegro Family Winery has been awarded at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in each of the last seven edi­tions of the com­pe­ti­tion. In 2023, pro­duc­ers from Herzegovina com­bined to win four awards from five entries.

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Olive grow­ing in Herzegovina has existed for cen­turies, dat­ing back to ancient finds near Neum, and has inten­si­fied in the last 15 years.

According to Marko Ivanković, the Federal Agro-Mediterranean Institute’s direc­tor, there were only 80 hectares of olive groves back then. Now, the region boasts ten large olive groves and about 800 fam­ily farms that man­age 521 hectares of olive groves, pro­duc­ing 380,000 liters of olive oil annu­ally.

In the next medium-term period, the goal is to reach an area of​1,000 hectares and dou­ble the pro­duc­tion of olive oil,” Ivanković said.

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Marko Ivanković

In coop­er­a­tion with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s food safety agency, USAID con­tin­ues to work on increas­ing the num­ber of prod­ucts with pro­tected geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tions.

This recog­ni­tion is a new con­fir­ma­tion of the wealth of Herzegovina and its enor­mous poten­tial for the devel­op­ment of tourism based on authen­tic prod­ucts and expe­ri­ences,” said Feđa Begović, direc­tor of USAID’s Tourism project.

Olive oil, as an impor­tant ele­ment of Mediterranean cul­ture and tra­di­tion, is not only a high-qual­ity food prod­uct but also an oppor­tu­nity for the fur­ther growth of gas­tro­nomic tourism, which is increas­ingly attrac­tive to tourists look­ing for unique expe­ri­ences,” he added.

Begović also empha­sized the role of the food safety agency in pro­mot­ing tourism and help­ing pro­duc­ers receive pro­tected geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tions.

Products with a Protected Designation of Origin are deeply con­nected to the place of pro­duc­tion because they are entirely pro­duced in a cer­tain geo­graph­i­cal area using local skills and raw mate­ri­als,” agency direc­tor Đemil Hajrić said.

The qual­ity of these prod­ucts is directly related to the nat­ural fac­tors and the peo­ple of that region.

Herzegovinian olive oil, with a tra­di­tion dat­ing back 2,000 years, is rec­og­niz­able by its spicy notes, bit­ter­ness and fruity aro­mas.

Josip Matić, pres­i­dent of the Herzegovinian Olive Growers and Oil Producers Association, is con­vinced that the olive oil busi­ness in the region will con­tinue to move for­ward.

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The other mem­bers of the asso­ci­a­tion who are work­ing hard to pro­mote the preser­va­tion of extra vir­gin olive oil from Herzegovina, espe­cially with PDO sta­tus, think the same.

Our goals are to estab­lish new olive groves, reg­is­ter olive groves and sup­port tech­ni­cal and edu­ca­tional ini­tia­tives,” Matić said. We are focus­ing on pro­mot­ing the Zlatne Kapi PDO and devel­op­ing olive oil tourism through projects such as the Olive Oil Road of Herzegovina, which sup­port rural devel­op­ment and pre­vent the depop­u­la­tion of vil­lages.”


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