July 2 2008, 15:54

Massive harvesting and sales of blueberry started in Volynskaya region

The blueberry harvesting season started in the forests of Volynskaya region. This year is rich for blueberry in the forests which occupy one third of the territory of this region. According to the data provided by "Fruit-Inform" project, the purchase prices, declared by the buyers, are fluctuating within the limits of $ 2.08-2.29/kg at the present moment. This price is lower than a year ago when this berry cost $3.12-3.54/kg.

Nevertheless, according to the tentative estimations of some specialists, the correctly organized harvesting activities are able to bring at least UAH 2-3 mln. of the additional profits to the budget, UKRINFORM portal says. A considerable part of the harvested blueberry is exported to CIS countries and Western Europe on an annual basis. The blueberry harvesting has been a commercial process for several years already in Volynskaya region. The collection points are registered by the regional authoritative institutions; the number of such points exceeds several hundreds annually. Respectively, State Forest Administrations define and disseminate the limits of this berry harvesting among the districts: the harvesters obtain special tickets for that. The State Forest Security of the Regional Forest Administration controls the process of the harvesting of the wild forest resources. The regular raids are undertaken in this regard. For example, thanks to such raids around 40 illegally working collection points were detected past year.