October 27, 2019 - The lecture "Restoration of old olive trees and olive groves - practical issues" was held on Saturday in Stoliv, organized by the Cultural and Native Association "Napredak" from Gornja Lastva in cooperation with the Olive Society "Boka" and the NGO Kamelija Stoliv.
On this occasion, a workshop was organized where a Croatian expert Stanislav Stambuk demonstrated practical methods of pruning olive trees to rejuvenate and restore them. According to him, the misconception is that the tree should not be pruned for three years. Stambuk points out that it is pruned the first year immediately after planting. He showed the growers from Boka the principles of pruning and restoring old trees and pruning younger trees.
"The pruning is an agro-technical operation that must be done every year. The tree will give fruits, but you need to give it shape when you start growing it. It must not be allowed to rise abruptly into the air. It should be a large canopy so that there is room for new twigs to grow on the inside and not too thick. The beetle is a nursery for plant diseases and pests. Soot fungus occurs in olives that are too thick," Stambuk explains.
Štambuk is a Croatian expert working at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia in the Directorate for Professional Support to the Development of Agriculture and Fisheries.
"Today's action aims to teach people how to cut olives, especially the older ones, to rejuvenate them and restore them, given that most of them are in Vrmac. It is part of a project that aims at restoring growing throughout Vrmac, restoring old olive groves as the start of the renewal of rural development.
There used to be many settlements all over Vrmac in which olive trees were planted. Our goal is to revitalize the villages that once existed and have exceptional architectural and ambient value, instead of contemporary construction and concretization of the entire coast and the whole area," Marija Nikolic from the Cultural and Native Association Napredak Gorna Lastva told Radio Kotor.
She emphasizes that the restoration of olive growing should be an impetus to all other activities that will lead to the recovery of life in the villages. Yesterday's workshop is the last activity of the project "Platform for the renewal and development of olive growing in Vrmac - New old olive grove." The project, Nikolic explains, began in April.
"We had a round table at which we presented to growers the legislative framework for the development of olive growing in Montenegro. We then had a workshop on how to produce, store and use quality olive oil," Nikolic said.
According to her, the final product of the whole project will be the document Olive Growing Restoration Strategy in Vrmac, which should be completed by November 20.
Nikolic believes that the municipalities of Tivat and Kotor should adopt this document, according to which will be able to restore olive growing and restore life to the village in the long run. She states that both municipalities have shown interest in the project.
The project on the Platform for the Restoration and Development of Olive Growing as a Basis for Rural Development in Vrmac is funded by European Union funding under the program "Rural Development led by rural civil society organizations", implemented by the Foundation for the Linking of Natural Values and People.
The attendees were greeted on behalf of the host by Romeo Mihovic, in front of the Kamelija NGO Stoliv. He said there are many olive trees in Stoliv. Besides Lustica, there is the most significant number of olive trees in Stoliv.
"There is a true legend that says that in Stoliv, no boy could have married if he had not planted a hundred olives. That is why this place was named Stoliv - one hundred olives," explains Mihovic.
The workshop was held in the Grigorije Mihovic olive grove in Stoliv. For over 100 years, no one has planted large quantities of olives in this place. Resident Grigorije Mihovic planted the first young grove with about 120 trees.
Source: Radio Kotor
