The Bar Association of Olive Growers reacted to the events of the past week concerning the Old Olive and its endangerment. They reminded that since April 2020, they have been voluntarily carrying out agrotechnical measures on the olive tree, offered the help of experts from the region and warned about the consequences of cementing and concreting the area around the Old Olive Tree.
The Municipality of Bar previously announced that they would start solving this problem, drainage, by the end of last week. As "Vijesti" has unofficially learned from the Municipality of Bar, the preparatory work began last Friday, and the weather, i.e. the rain, prevented them from continuing with the work today.
Ćazim Alković, president of the Bar Association of Olive Growers, told "Vijesta" that there is no information about the works.
"This rain usually does not harm the olive trees, but given that the Old Olive Tree has had too much water for a long time, it will certainly not like it even more," said Alković.
"Most of the members of the Management Board of the Society have both tradition and experience, excellent friendly connections with experts from the region, but unfortunately no one is interested in that. Regardless of everything, when someone assesses that we can be useful in the struggle to preserve the Old Olive Tree, we will always be there and do everything just to return the green leaves to the Old Olive Tree, to continue to bloom and bear fruit, and so that our generation is not left behind. remembered as negligent during which the wealth of our city was lost", the statement of that association states.
They said that at the beginning of 2020, they concluded a contract with JP Cultural Center Bar on the maintenance of the Old Olive Tree and the application of agrotechnical measures. A few days ago, the Municipality of Bar stated that it had no insight into that contract, and they, as written in the announcement, consider it very strange, because the Cultural Center is a municipal enterprise.
"We own the contract and are ready to make it available for inspection whenever needed," they said.
Agrotechnical measures, as defined in the Agreement, were applied in accordance with the recommendations of the Faculty of Biotechnology. Furthermore, the protection of the Old Olive Tree was carried out by olive growers who passed the appropriate exam, and the pruning was also carried out by olive growers who have licenses for olive pruning, and in addition, they have a long-standing family tradition in this business, said the Association of Bar Olive Growers.
In addition to the application of agrotechnical measures, the Society also worked on the promotion of the Old Olive, they remind, actively collaborated with the developer of the Protection Study, and in October 2021 and 2022 organized public harvests attended by many olive growers, as well as officials - the Minister of Agriculture, the President of the Municipality Bar, president of the Bar Municipality Assembly, public figures of the city...
"Even at the beginning of 2022, changes were noticed at Stara maslini. In its oldest part, the leaves started to turn yellow, and later to fall off. The association of olive growers immediately informed all those responsible and made itself available for the implementation of all measures prescribed by the Faculty of Biotechnology. The society also offered to organize the arrival of well-known olive growing experts from the region and the EU in Bar, who would help save Stara Maslina, but there was no interest in that," they pointed out.
They added that professors from the Faculty of Biotechnology visited Stara maslina and made reports on the condition, which were delivered to JP Cultural Center Bar. The association of olive growers received orders from the JP Kulturni centar Bar about the measures to be implemented, which they say they acted on urgently.
"Communication in the quadrangle: JP Cultural Center Bar, Faculty of Biotechnology, Municipality of Bar, which subsequently got involved, and the Society of Olive Growers was not very good, and often we in the Society would not know whose orders we should carry out. In order to approach solving the problem of Stara maslina as seriously as possible, we insisted on holding a meeting where it would be clearly defined who is responsible for what and who should do what," they explained.
After that, the meeting was held on August 8, 2023. The representatives of the Association of Olive Growers, as they stated, appealed to those present to solve the problem with the Old Olive Tree as soon as possible, because the situation is alarming.
"The representative of the Municipality informed those present that the President of the Municipality of Bar will form an Expert Commission that will carry out all activities in the future regarding the fight for the survival of the sacred tree of Bar. A few days after the meeting, we learned informally that the Commission had been formed and that there was no representative of the Bar Olive Growers' Association in it," the announcement reads, and "Vijesti" wrote about it earlier.
The Society concluded that after August 8, 2023, they are excluded from all activities around Stara Maslina.
They emphasized that on October 27, 2020, the Association of Bar Olive Growers submitted written comments to the Municipality of Bar on the occasion of the public hearing on the document "Study for the Protection of the Old Olive Tree", the first of which referred to the revision of the "Old Olive Tree" urban planning project, warning that the water in which the root system "lies" can permanently damage it.
"All citizens, and especially organizations, had the opportunity to submit similar remarks to the Municipality, but we are not aware that anyone has done so. Among other things, we have to ask ourselves, how is it possible that in 2006, when the revision of the "Stara Maslina" urban project was carried out and when concrete and marble were started on the Old Olive, the then management of the olive growing organization did not formally react against it?", they ask in the statement signed by Ćazim Alković.
They also wonder how none of the freelance journalists and intellectuals of Bar raised their voice against the "concreting" of Stara maslina? - "Or maybe it is, and we don't know it today?"
They also submitted a newspaper clipping in which agronomist Ratko Bataković from Nikšić warns of the danger of concreting in 2006. They congratulated and thanked Bataković, and added that it was a shame that no one from Bar, except Anto Baković and his NGO, had done such a thing.
"Those who then calmly observed everything, today felt called to 'assess' how well the Society took care of the Old Olive and whether it was 'deserved' that the olive tree is in bad condition and that it is threatened with disappearance. The association of olive growers took all measures, respecting all the recommendations of the Biotechnical Faculty, and warned about the problem much earlier", they announced.
The Association of Bar Olive Growers still thinks that it was necessary to bring in olive growing experts from the European Union who have many years of practical experience and are also engaged in scientific work in olive growing.
"Also, we believe that the time that has passed since the formation of the Commission (in August 2023) until today is too long a period to start taking care of Stara Maslina only now, after five months," they said.
All they have to do, as they said, is to trust the Commission that, even without experts from abroad, they will manage to preserve the Old Olive and that the pride of their city and country will continue to live and bear fruit.
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