The Renaissance will not be Imported

Pie: Maria Hetman. Objavljeno : 13-08-2013 08:53h

The quiet town of Fojnica lies tucked between the lush mountains and foothills in central BosniaHerzegovina. It is known in guidebooks primarily for its thermal spa, which is said to have therapeutic qualities. Amidst the magical peaks, clean air, and healing waters, it is easy to overlook the small treasures nestled in the ground Fojnica potatoes, which have long been considered by locals to be the tastiest in the country. Forgetting about the potato would, however, be a mistake. The humble Fojnica potato has, in recent years, been elevated to a whole new status by Amel and Almir Mukaa. In 2010, the two brothers at the time 19 and 26 years old founded the company Krompir.ba. (Krompir means potato in Bosnian.) Just three years later, the company provides them and a number of others in their community with a dynamic livelihood and with hope for a more sustainable future in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Krompir.ba is a simple concept. Small-scale farmers in Fojnica grow fresh, organic produce, and customers in the Canton of Sarajevo order a box of it every week. Krompir.ba plays the role of supporting the farmers, taking orders, and making deliveries directly to customers doors. Six-and-half to seven kilos of fruits and vegetables cost around 20 KM. The idea bears resemblance to community supported agriculture (CSA), which is increasingly popular in the U.S. and Europe. In a CSA structure, the farmer and the consumer agree to support each other the consumer by promising to buy a certain share of what the farmer grows before the season starts, and the farmer by delivering a bounty of healthy produce with a personal guarantee of how the food is produced. In most cases, CSAs are organic, and the food travels a short distance between farm and table, saving on fossil fuels. (Food otherwise travels, on average, between 1,500-2,500 miles in the U.S., according to the Worldwatch Institute.) Krompir.bas model is slightly different only in that it involves middlemen. That would be Amel and Almir, who grew up in Fojnica. The two brothers did not always envision a future for themselves in farming. Organic agriculture is hard work, Almir says. It involves picking up bees and weeding by hand. When we were kids, we were often more interested in going down to the river to swim than helping our parents in the field.

The making of Krompir.ba

Almir remembers the exact date and time the idea came to him and his brother. It was Friday, September 10, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. he says. But the process had already started a year before, when friends in Sarajevo asked Amel and Almir to sell them some of their familys potatoes. As a family, we had been producing potatoes for years, but just for ourselves. After the delivery, the feedback was so positive that it occurred to them that they could start some kind of business. People were saying it was the best potato they had ever tried in their life. Almir spent the following year brainstorming, and traveling around Europe to get more ideas. I took a photo of every box of potatoes that I saw, he says. People in the shops were looks at me strangely, like, what the heck is he doing? During the year of thinking and planning, Almir and his brother decided to bypass the idea of selling to supermarkets. According to Almir, they do not pay regularly to small farmers, and its hard to do business with them. Also, adds Almir, we didnt want our (organic) potatoes to be lying next to garbage. By which he means the imported potatoes and/or those sprayed with synthetic pesticides. On September 10, 2010, Almir posted a whimsical message on his Facebook profile offering fresh produce from his familys garden. Within an hour, they had 12 orders. They scrambled to gather the produce. It was hot; it was Ramadan and we were fasting. It was hard to collect all the vegetables. Nearly three years later, Krompir.ba has grown to 15 farms, and has more than 7,200 fans on its Facebook page. Almir says the exact number of customers they serve is a business secret, but he notes there are enough, and the number is growing. The company offers much more than potatoes: carrots, zucchini, eggplant, pears, tomatoes, cucumbers, plums, lettuce, and many more are on the list offered in accordance with the growing season.

The problem with importing

B&H has a large number of small family farmers and an abundance of land. Yet, from among the billions of KM of produce eaten each year by Bosnian families, the majority of it is imported, according to most major media outlets. Most of it is of questionable quality and laden with pesticides. What cant be sold in Europe, is sold to us, Almir says. Although local produce is often of higher quality, it is difficut for Bosnian producers to compete, because most growers cultivate small plots of land, between 1-25 acres (according to official statistics). Most local producers dont know what to do (in this kind of market)it doesnt pay off for them to farm. Krompir.ba, however, has realized that it pays to cooperate. We gathered around 15 farmers in Fojnica; those who were not employed full-time, yet who were not living from their agricultural products. We got a donation of greenhouses, seeds, etc. The farmers were grateful, because we agreed to buy everything they produce. They are still our base, and we have expanded to Herzegovina and Sekovii. Almir emphasizes that only the best vegetables get delivered to customers. The rest are processed into spices, ajvar (a roasted pepper and eggplant spread), or other products. We also make pure, fresh-squeezed fruit juices.

Organic production

Krompir.ba has not yet obtained official organic certification due to the costs associated with the certification process, but Almir says, they hope to do so next year. In the meantime, he says, We educate our farmers to produce according to organic standards. We provide seeds, organic fertilizer, and other supplies. We do not use pesticides. When we started, we sought out land that had not been cultivated for 10-15 years. He adds, We dont sell what we wouldnt eat. Our agreement with our producers and with our customers is based on morality and ethics. For example, when our farmers provide us with their harvest, we pay them immediately. We do not put enormous prices on organic food as is done in Western companies. When asked if customers could visit the farms to verify the environmental and human impacts of the produce they buy, as is typical in a traditional CSA, Almir said that it is, and that some have already done so. Although organic production is, in many ways, less harmful than conventional industrial agriculture which pollutes water through chemical run-off, depletes the soul, and threatens bio-diversity, large-

scale organic sites can create other serious environmental problems, including depleted water resources. Almir says that Krompir.ba has no plans to grow to an industrial size. Though it may not speak to the long-term viability of irrigation in Fojnica, Krompir.ba farmers pump water from five meters below ground. Fojnica is very rich with water, Almir says. He adds, We use crop rotation to help manage soil fertility and to help avoid or reduce problems with soilborne diseases and some soildwelling insects. Krompir.ba is against using genetically modified seeds. Where typical development analyses often see the small size of average Bosnian farms as a hindrance to economic growth, Amel and Almir see potential. And their model seems more secure then one based on vast expansion and export, as is evidenced by the fact that many larger-scale B&H farmers recently lost their main export market when Croatia joined the EU, causing some of them to collapse. In contrast, demand for Krompir.ba is growing. In the near future, the company plans to expand to include Zenica and Tuzla. While both brothers are busy building an organic business and making deliveries, they are also doing other things. Amel, now 22, is finishing his studies at the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo. Almir, a graduate of the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Sarajevo, also works as a business consultant, building trade links between B&H and Turkey. He has a two-year-old son and is expecting another soon. Though they have an urban life for most of the week, Almir says that they spend most weekends in Fojnica. We still like to go down to the river to swim. Their overall goal, Almir says, is to make Fojnica into an organic city.