March the 26th, 2022 - Could Croatian strawberries from the fertile and ever-rich Neretva Valley in southern Dalmatia be under threat following an unusually long dry season?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, due to an abnormally long dry period, Croatian strawberries from plantations down in the Neretva Valley have been placed in danger, as reported by the Maslina portal.

Although it is now climatologically spring, meaning that the general level of precipitation should technically be enough at this moment in time, the situation is completely different and unusual for this time of year. Only 20 millimetres of rain has fallen so far, while for comparison, about 800 mm fell in the period from October to December.

According to agro-estimates, about two million strawberry seedlings have been planted down in the Neretva Valley, which should be harvested during April, but in order for the these much loved 100% Croatian strawberries to properly ripen, they need regular watering with high quality water, which is not available in the Neretva Valley.

Namely, the water is salty owing to the location, which was repeatedly warned about by the association of fruit and vegetable producers (Neretva Youth/Neretvanska Mladez), which addressed the situation in an open letter to the competent Minister, Marija Vuckovic, warning her of the problem of irrigation.

The association warned that Croatian strawberries are an agricultural crop that is extremely sensitive to increased salt concentrations, especially sodium chloride, but the water in the canals from which local farmers take what they need is currently of extremely poor quality, which is naturally placing Croatian strawberries and indeed other locally grown produce in an unfavourable position.

They also pointed out that extreme climate changes haven't bypassed the Neretva Valley either, because there has been and continues to be almost no rain.

"For two months now, we've been experiencing an extremely dry period with a dry wind - bura", the Neretva Youth Association explained for the Maslina portal.

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August the 17th, 2021 - Croatian watermelons are enormous, delicious and very fairly priced. Eating one on a hot day listening to the calm laps of the Adriatic and the songs of the crickets is priceless, but Croatian watermelon producers don't have it easy, despite the popularity of what they grow and sell.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian watermelon consumption is the same as beer consumption - people consume more when the thermometer is at its absolute maximum and there's little else one can physically manage in that heat than sitting and eating and drinking. Neretva fruit growers claim that their watermelon was bought for 1.20 kuna until a week ago, and then the demand stopped rather abruptly.

If they didn't take care of the sale of the much loved Croatian watermelon on famous southern Dalmatian roadside stands and on the markets, many failed to even sell even a kilogram because overripe Italian watermelon arrived on the Croatian market, sold next to the home-grown sweet ones, which were additionally sweetened by drought, Vecernji list has learned from fruit grower Neven Mataga from Opuzen.

"It's a total disaster. It's unfortunate that there are so many tourists in Croatia, and yet we have nowhere to sell the Croatian watermelon. My heart aches when I see how many are still sitting out there in the field. We grow them, harvest them, put them in containers, and the traders just take them away and charge three times more than we spent on them. Now even that won't happen either.

I believe that this is nothing but a targeted action to destroy Croatian watermelon production. You're so exhausted by it all that you can no longer work and you just give up,'' explained the indignant Mataga, adding that traders aren't interested "in fruit under six and over 12 kilograms'' and that they're looking for a special weight.

In the retail chains many have visited, the Croatian food section is becoming more and more difficult to find, especially if it is known that the year for fruits and vegetables was generally bad, and not only in Croatia.

Certain fruits, such as raspberries and blackberries are primarily Croatia, while grapes are typically coming in from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Italy, apples are coming in from Slovenia, lemons are coming all the way from Argentina, the peaches and pears are from Spain, the nectarines are from Italy and Turkey, and the plums are from Moldova.

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