* A company in the Dobruja region is looking to turn its experimental kiwi garden into a business and sell fruit, juice and canned fruit on the domestic market
* Whereas the more traditional crops were decimated by rain, kiwi crops are resilient and require no phytosanitary treatment
An increasing number of agricultural producers are beginning to grow exotic crops as experiments, due to the climate warning of these last few years.
Some of them are seriously considering growing exotic crops for commercial purposes, and are expecting to turn out a profit over the medium and long term by creating processing facilities that would produce juice and canned products.
One such example is SC "Ostrovit" SA, a company that since 1995, has set up an experimental kiwi plantation in the region of Dobruja. The company has a cultivated surface of two hectares which so far has yielded 2 tons a hectare.
"If we were to invest more in the future, we could produce enough fruit to sell on the domestic market, and, why not, even kiwi to be processed and turned into juice and other processes, in order to achieve juices and other preserves", said Lucian Stoian, an engineer with the company. Lucian Stoian said that so far, the company has not begun selling kiwi on the domestic market.
* Future plans: juice and canned fruit
Engineer Lucian Stoian said that "Ostrovit" SA is looking to expand its area which grows kiwi and to optimize its output: "At a normal density, a hectare of kiwi can yield up to 12 tons of fruit".
Stoian says that one advantage of these crops is the fact that kiwi crops are easy to manage, and have low production costs. "The crops are resistant to rain and require no phytosanitary treatment", the engineer added.
The more traditional crops were affected by the heavy rains which occurred this summer, while pests could
