Floq farmers face losses: grape costs rise, selling price stays the same

Grape cultivation is bringing farmers less and less income. They say that expenses for chemical fertilizers, fuel and workers have risen, while the price of the product has not changed, so the income does not cover the costs.

Jashar Kumria, a farmer from Floq in Cërrik, harvested about 42-43 quintals of grapes this year. However, he says that after all the work and money spent, the balance at the end of the season is negative.

“Expenses start with agricultural inputs. Chemical fertilizers have become 10 times more expensive. You sell the grapes for 50 lek, the same as 20 years ago, while fertilizers have increased 10-fold, not to say 50-fold. The income doesn’t even pay for the labor; you work without getting paid. We toil all day in the sun, with effort and difficulty, together with the whole family, but in the end we barely manage to cover the month’s bread, because the money isn’t enough,” says Jashar Kumria.

According to him, selling the grapes does not cover the vineyard’s expenses. To cope with the costs, the family has to use its own savings.

“I myself harvested 42-43 quintals of grapes. When you do the math at the end, it comes out negative. We’ve taken money out of our pockets, we take it from the children… My son tells me: ‘Dad, why do you work for nothing? Who does the math work out for, what are you working for?’ It’s very difficult,” he says.

Weather conditions also brought problems this season. Another farmer says that high temperatures dried out part of the grapes and reduced the quantity produced.

“There was hail in the sky, 50, 70, I don’t know, a lot of it on the land, it passed people by without mercy. First of all, the grapes were never irrigated. Secondly, from the high temperatures and great heat, they were damaged, more of them dried out, and we didn’t get the production we used to get before,” the farmer says.

Residents are also concerned about young people leaving the village. Economic difficulties are causing more and more people to give up working the land.

“Most are leaving it, they’re leaving Floq, they’re abandoning it. The children are leaving… in fact, in this village where I am, I’m the youngest one,” says Jashar Kumria.

High expenses, the unchanged price of grapes and the damage caused by temperatures are making it increasingly difficult to continue this activity. Farmers say that working in the vineyards is losing its profitability.