Producers in Herzegovina Celebrate New PDO

Olive grow­ers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a west­ern Balkan coun­try, are cel­e­brat­ing the announce­ment of the coun­try’s first Protected Designation of Origin-cer­ti­fied extra vir­gin olive oil: Zlatne Kapi Herzegovina.

The farm­ers and offi­cials who con­tributed to the PDO’s cre­ation attended a ded­i­cated cer­e­mony in Mostar, the largest city in the south­ern region of Herzegovina.

The hosts empha­sized the role of the United States, which, through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) sus­tain­able tourism project, works to pro­tect and pro­mote Bosnia and Herzegovina’s unique culi­nary prod­ucts.

“The mark of authen­tic­ity means a lot to us. Our oils will now go to the mar­kets more eas­ily. Olive grow­ing has a future in Herzegovina; we have oils of excep­tional qual­ity,” said Dragan Musa, owner of a grove of around 900 olive trees in Miloševići.

Musa’s words were sup­ported by Ivan Milas Musa, who also expects a solid har­vest and top-qual­ity oil this year.

“The pro­tected geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tion means a lot for all cur­rent and future olive grow­ers, and the Zlatne kapi Herzegovina brand will help regional and global suc­cess,” Milas said. ​“We can com­pete with global brands because wher­ever we appear, we get awards.”

For exam­ple, the Škegro Family Winery has been awarded at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in each of the last seven edi­tions of the com­pe­ti­tion. In 2023, pro­duc­ers from Herzegovina com­bined to win four awards from five entries.

Olive grow­ing in Herzegovina has existed for cen­turies, dat­ing back to ancient finds near Neum, and has inten­si­fied in the last 15 years.

According to Marko Ivanković, the Federal Agro-Mediterranean Institute’s direc­tor, there were only 80 hectares of olive groves back then. Now, the region boasts ten large olive groves and about 800 fam­ily farms that man­age 521 hectares of olive groves, pro­duc­ing 380,000 liters of olive oil annu­ally.

“In the next medium-term period, the goal is to reach an area of​1,000 hectares and dou­ble the pro­duc­tion of olive oil,” Ivanković said.

In coop­er­a­tion with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s food safety agency, USAID con­tin­ues to work on increas­ing the num­ber of prod­ucts with pro­tected geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tions.

“This recog­ni­tion is a new con­fir­ma­tion of the wealth of Herzegovina and its enor­mous poten­tial for the devel­op­ment of tourism based on authen­tic prod­ucts and expe­ri­ences,” said Feđa Begović, direc­tor of USAID’s Tourism project.

“Olive oil, as an impor­tant ele­ment of Mediterranean cul­ture and tra­di­tion, is not only a high-qual­ity food prod­uct but also an oppor­tu­nity for the fur­ther growth of gas­tro­nomic tourism, which is increas­ingly attrac­tive to tourists look­ing for unique expe­ri­ences,” he added.

Begović also empha­sized the role of the food safety agency in pro­mot­ing tourism and help­ing pro­duc­ers receive pro­tected geo­graph­i­cal indi­ca­tions.

“Products with a Protected Designation of Origin are deeply con­nected to the place of pro­duc­tion because they are entirely pro­duced in a cer­tain geo­graph­i­cal area using local skills and raw mate­ri­als,” agency direc­tor Đemil Hajrić said.

The qual­ity of these prod­ucts is directly related to the nat­ural fac­tors and the peo­ple of that region.

Herzegovinian olive oil, with a tra­di­tion dat­ing back 2,000 years, is rec­og­niz­able by its spicy notes, bit­ter­ness and fruity aro­mas.

Josip Matić, pres­i­dent of the Herzegovinian Olive Growers and Oil Producers Association, is con­vinced that the olive oil busi­ness in the region will con­tinue to move for­ward.

The other mem­bers of the asso­ci­a­tion who are work­ing hard to pro­mote the preser­va­tion of extra vir­gin olive oil from Herzegovina, espe­cially with PDO sta­tus, think the same.

“Our goals are to estab­lish new olive groves, reg­is­ter olive groves and sup­port tech­ni­cal and edu­ca­tional ini­tia­tives,” Matić said. ​“We are focus­ing on pro­mot­ing the Zlatne Kapi PDO and devel­op­ing olive oil tourism through projects such as the Olive Oil Road of Herzegovina, which sup­port rural devel­op­ment and pre­vent the depop­u­la­tion of vil­lages.”