"Antivari" and NGO "Maslinijada": We welcome the adopted amendments to the law on olive growing

The Olive Growers Association "Antivari" and the NGO "Maslinijada" - Stari Bar, thanked the members of the Parliament of Montenegro who supported the amendments to the Law on Olive Growing and Olive Oil, with amendments relating to the improvement of the text of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Olive Growing and Olive Oil, which we initiated and sent to all parliamentary groups on May 31 of this year.

In a press release, they particularly thanked the MPs and clubs who submitted the amendments, seriously considering them, as they stated, with the full understanding that they are aiming to preserve the existing traditional agricultural sector, its improvement, but also better individual exploitation, and agricultural and tourist valorization in their estates, which they have managed to preserve for hundreds of years.

"Here, we would like to emphasize that we were impressed by the support for olive growing, as well as our associations and results, which were highlighted in their discussions by the representatives of Bar - MP Edina Dešić and MP Dejan Đurović, who is also the chairman of the Committee on Tourism and Agriculture, where these amendments were first considered. At the same time, we would like to thank the Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Joković for his full support for our work and highly commendable public assessments of our activities," they said.

They emphasized that their associations have been appealing for decades to stop the construction of residential buildings in ancient olive groves and the destruction of centuries-old trees. Instead of strictly respecting the current legal solutions, they assessed, unscrupulous builders were often allowed to do whatever they wanted, and it was not uncommon for multi-storey buildings to be built on areas smaller than 500 square meters.

"However, the proposed changes did not aim to punish unscrupulous builders, but rather tended to 'punish' those who preserved their olive groves, preventing them from building facilities for individual housing, agricultural or tourist valorization," said the Bar olive growers.

That is why they requested, as was adopted, that olive growers be allowed to build a facility for their own individual housing, facilities for the production or processing of olive oil, or, alternatively, facilities that will better valorize their traditional olive grove for tourism purposes, through the construction of bungalows, camping facilities, ethno-houses, and the like, in accordance with environmental values, on their properties, on areas larger than 0,1 hectares.

"It should be borne in mind that our properties are mostly on larger areas, often several hectares, so a facility for individual housing, production or tourist valorization not only does not disrupt the environment, but in the full sense improves it and can fully contribute to its valorization," the statement reads.

They believed that it was unacceptable that due to the previous unscrupulous work of inspection bodies, and the constant turning a blind eye, or corruption, to what unscrupulous builders were doing, olive growers who had jealously guarded hectares of their olive groves for centuries could not be punished, so that they could not valorize them for tourism and agricultural purposes.

"We would like to remind you that these two associations bring together more than a hundred of the largest traditional olive growers in Bar and that our membership includes the most important producers of olives and olive oil in Bar, and therefore in Montenegro, with holdings measured in tens of thousands of trees (roots), and that for almost two and a half decades they have been organizing the 'Olive Festival', the most significant and largest olive growing event in the region," they emphasized in a joint statement.

They once again emphasized the commitment and desire of their associations to, in partnership with the competent ministry and local administration, work on preserving the existing traditional agricultural sector, its development, but also better individual exploitation, utilization and agricultural and tourist valorization in their estates.