On Monday, USAID and AAC-Lushnja were in Cukalat, Berat with olive growers, school students and local government representative, at a special activity to showcase the use of good practices in harvesting, transporting and processing of olive oil. Everyone also has a lesson from Albania Olive Oil Taste Panel on how to discern high quality extra virgin olive oil. Thank you to "Bujar" olive oil factory for hosting this special event! 

Berat is one of Albania’s largest olive producing regions with approximately 2.5 million olive trees, or 24 percent of all olive trees in the country. Ten percent of Albania’s table olives come from this region. The cultivar “Kokërrmadhi i Beratit” is most preferred of table olives, and is well-known throughout Albania.

USAID assistance to Albanian olive oil processors includes:

• Purchase of specialized equipment which allows firms to increase the efficiency of stuffed and seedless olive production to better serve market needs.  
• Technical assistance to farmers providing raw material, including cultivars selection, pruning, technology applications, and pest infection. This has increased both the quality and quantity of production.
• Facilitation of subsidies by helping firms develop business plans to qualify for the Ministry of Agriculture's support program. Firms use the subsidies to buy new modern, olive oil production line for “continuous process” olive extraction and high quality olive oil production.
• Technical assistance in producing high quality olive oil with the new equipment.