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Supporting successful women in agribusiness Albania -- Marime Korbi lives in Kukes, Albania, and is the owner of the Ervin company, which specializes in the production of high quality organic alcoholic and fruit drinks. Her business emerged intact from the transition from the socialist system, although it was ill prepared to enter a competitive market with its low output and antiquated production technology. Now Ervin is a flourishing producer of fruit juices and high quality raki, a traditional alcoholic drink made from local plums and grapes. It is the only producer of its kind in the north-east of the country.Marime was able to obtain credit from the Mountain Areas Development Programme (MADP) through the IFAD-financed Mountain Areas Financial Fund (MAFF). The programme supports farmers in the districts of Has, Tropoja and Dibra through credit schemes, extension services, technical assistance and rehabilitation of infrastructure. Most of the farmers are members of fruit farmer’s associations in these villages and they supply plums and grapes to Ervin. The programme has also set up small demonstration plots to enable growers to learn new technologies relevant to plum and grape growing. As the business has strengthened and expanded, it has been able to support a substantial number of farmers by ensuring a market for their products. Investment in the company has made it possible to process a much larger amount of the fruit grown in the north-eastern area (including Kukes, Tropoja, Has and Diber). Before investing in new processing equipment the company processed 200 tons of plums and 30 tons of grapes, purchased from 500 farmers in the northern eastern region of Albania. In 2006 Ervin bought in 320 tons of plums, 60 tons of grapes and 24 tons of berries from more than 1,000 farmers. The company plans to purchase increasingly large quantities of plums, grapes and berries in the future. From 2001 to 2003 MAFF provided a total of US$170,000 to the company to purchase equipment for the processing and packaging elements of the business, including fermentation tanks, filters and bottling equipment. Since the new equipment was installed, the company has more than doubled its production of raki and has achieved a product of very high quality. It has also expanded production, introducing new products such as blackberry raki and fruit juices made from blueberries, crowberries and rose hips. By mid 2006 Ervin was employing 20 full-time and 6 seasonal employees and it is planning to engage 4 more seasonal employees during 2006 as a result of the increase in processing capacity. Of the 26 employees, 18 are women. Three are technicians, 2 are laboratory chemists and 13 work on the production lines. All have been trained by the company in new production technologies. The raki and juice are marketed mainly in local and national wholesale markets through direct contact with distributors. A small part of production is marketed in bars, restaurants and supermarkets. Marime Korbi has also opened her own shop in Durres. She now plans to focus on improving product packaging and to continue seeking openings towards European markets. For this purpose, the company has officially requested legal registration of the Ervin trademark. Source: IFAD |
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