The "Alliance for the Development and Promotion of Family Agriculture in Northern Albania" is a programme promoted by Reggio Volontari nel Mondo (RTM ) and Cooperazione per lo sviluppo Paesi emergenti (COSPE ) with the support of Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (AICS ). It intends to promote the economic development of northern Albania starting from its landscape and agro-pastoral resources. To address the lack of infrastructures and services for agriculture and the progressive depopulation that afflicts the region, the Alliance aims to develop a supply chain approach that connects agriculture and farming on a family scale, promoting traditional know-how, typical products, and tourism. This dossier features insights, interviews, photo stories, and video reports made by OBCT
News
Organic farming in Albania, a (still) unfullfilled potential
Francesco Martino | 3/06/2019Albania has the potential to successfully develop organic farming, but the sector needs structural and sustainable interventions. We talked about it with Professor Enver Isufi, director of the Institute for Organic Agriculture in Durrës
Discovering the Apennines, discovering Albania
Nicola Pedrazzi | 13/03/2018A group of Albanian farmers explored the Reggio Apennines in search of useful solutions for the north of Albania. We tagged along in this "study-trip" organised by a local NGO
Rural Albania, the bet of those who stay
Mërtur | Francesco Martino | 9/01/2018Wild, untamed mountains, poverty, and massive depopulation. In the villages of northern Albania, some resist the temptation to escape to the city and hope for a new beginning, made of sustainable rural development and alternative tourism. Our report
Video
Family bees
Maria lives in northern Albania. She has not had an easy life, far from it. But to help her support her family and to accompany her on her journey she found thousands of small insects: bees
Salina's dream
"I want to become a veterinarian!" Salina has clear ideas, she knows what her dream is: to achieve it, she is not afraid to challenge the stereotypes that still mark the Albanian society and can count on a school that, starting from the concreteness of earth, aims straight to the future
The return
Gjimi left his mountains as a boy, along with his parents. But both in Tirana and away from Albania he has only found hard work and exploitation. And he decided, with courage, to return to his homeland
Among the hives of Albania
"The worker bee" is the name chosen by a group of women who have managed to organise and unite in the name of beekeeping. Today, honey production is a significant income opportunity for them and their families
Battle in the name of life
In the mountains of northern Albania, the herds climb steep slopes exposed to the dry wind. On the pastures of Hamzi, shepherds share the same difficult destiny as the goats they care for. Photo story by Valery Postharov
Northern Albania, the soul of milk
The Syla family lives in the mountain village of Blerim, in northern Albania. Their everyday life, cadenced by ancient rhythms, revolves around the breeding of goats, ancient art and the cornerstone of the family economy. Photo by Valery Poshtarov
Albania, between rocks and sky
A harsh, essential land, a life marked by isolation and the perpetual, unrelenting cycle of seasons. A photo report by Ivo Danchev, in the mountains of northern Albania, in the Pukë and Fushë Arrëz areas
Albania, the knowledgeable winemaker
Agronomist, winemaker, beekeeper. Jak Pacani, animator and owner of the "Ersi" winery, has been a true pioneer in the reorganisation of agriculture in the Zadrima region after the collapse of Albania's centralised system in the early 1990s. A photo report by Ivo Danchev
Silk from Albania
Until recently, the alluvial region of Zadrima in the north of Albania was well known for the breeding of silkworm. The latter served for the production of traditional, bright colored cloths, patiently and passionately hand-woven to the chassis by women from the area. A photo-story by Ivo Danchev
Media partners: Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso, Albanian News
Local counterparts: Partnership for Development Foundation (PFD ), Women's Centre “Passi leggeri ”
Other partners: Emilia Romagna Region, Autonomous Province of Bolzano, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Cooperative “Valle dei Cavalieri”, Forum of Albanian Associations in Emilia Romagna, Veneto Association of Organic Producers, Intermunicipal Association of Zadrima
