The beginning of this year’s plum season did not go well for the producers in the Kolubara area. Storm and hail clouds spoiled their plans, even though spring heralded an exceptionally fertile year.
The residents of Komanica, Rakar, Berkovac, Popadić, Struganik, Gornji Lajkovac, Paštrić, Planinica, Miličnica, Osladić, Oglajenovac, and the villages of Osečina, Sidrija, Tutin, Plužac are collecting the damage in the lost family.
Plum harvest 2024 – the damage is huge
“The damage is huge, five or six million dinars. There will be no stork for at least two years, and maybe longer. With two hectares of plum plantations, the city peeled off the bark, I must have lost 150 tons. The year before last there were 100 tons of plums, last year I didn’t have anything because of the frost, now the hail has hit me, so next year I won’t have anything again”, says Ljuba Jovanović, a fruit grower from Miličinica near Valjevo.
In Tuđin, one of the Osecan villages affected by the storm, Mladen Jovanović also visits his orchards. He says he had two young plants and expected a solid crop, but there is nothing left in them.
“Nothing was left untouched! Maybe there are 20 to 30 percent, but those are the fruits that, when they reach the city, the disease immediately attacks and that’s the end of it. I think that in my household, starting from crops, orchards, to roof tiles on houses and other buildings, the damage is at least 10,000 to 15,000 euros”, adds Mladen.
Harvesting of the first fruits of the “Cačan rane” variety for consumption, due to the storm, lasted only a few days, with the assessment that the selling price of 40, 50 dinars per kilogram was not satisfactory. Harvesting of the “Cacana beauty” for freezing and cutting is in progress.
Its current purchase price is 33 to 36 dinars per kilogram, and it will be interesting for brandy producers who pay between 35 and 40 dinars. They expect that for a kilogram of “Stanley”, the variety that is grown the most in local orchards, the purchase price will be at least 40 dinars.
“In general, the plum crop is larger than last year, but when compared to a “normal” plum year, we arrive at the data that this year will be about 60 percent of the total crop. This was influenced by a strong storm, which on two occasions at the end of May caused great damage to the plants in the Valjevo and Oscena villages, and it should also be noted that the plants that gave birth last year have now produced much less fruit.
Most of the crop will have to be in brandy
The problem is that a large part of this year’s crop will have to go into brandy again”, says Srđan Stanojlović, fruit growing consultant at the Agricultural Advisory and Expert Service in Valjevo.
Fruits that have suffered hail damage are not representative, cannot be sold fresh, nor are they suitable for cutting. As a result of the injuries, there was also the appearance of rot and the fall of such fruits, and they are not even suitable for processing, which is a clear loss for the producers.
“There are about five hectares under plum trees. One plot was not damaged by the city, while others have quite visible damage. We have 300 trees of the “beauty of Čačan” and about 10 tons of bumpers, which we delivered in Koceljevo at a price of 50 dinars per kilogram. We are satisfied when we have something left to harvest, hand over and get paid for our work.
We could have done much worse. We have two dryers and so far we have dried most of the crop, but this year I am not sure that it will be good for drying since the crops are not of very good quality”, says Darko Mijailović, a fruit grower from Gola Glava.
From the most fertile to the most difficult year
And in the villages of Oseč, the center of plum production in Serbia, this year’s season is slowly starting. Local producers and processors say that it was one of the most productive years on the horizon, but it turned into one of the most difficult.
“We mostly use plums for drying and in the field where we work, more than 80 percent of households have been affected by the city. We also have our own five and a half hectares under plum trees, which the city planted on two occasions. We have been buying from the same people for years, which we will honor this season as well, although we will have many difficulties due to the effects of the hail.
The purchase price is not yet mentioned and the question is how much it will be due to the storm. I just have to hope that it will be as it should be, so that both the producers and us processors will be satisfied”, says Goran Simić, owner of the company “Simić Voće Plus” from Gornji Crniljev, which deals with the production, purchase and processing of plums.
Source: www.agromedia.rs
