Potatoes from Nevesinje became the first branded product in the Republic of Srpska. The designation of protection of geographical origin ensures great benefits, a better market position and a higher price. Cheese producers could soon be involved in the branding process.
After two years of procedures, inspections, studies, collection of documentation, potatoes from Nevesinje finally received the label of protection of geographical origin.
This stamp confirms the decades-long tradition of cultivation, quality and product properties specific to the Nevesinje site.
– Producers will have to respect the specifications according to which they received protection, these products are better positioned on the market and customers have the confidence that it is an original product – explained Dragan Brenjo, President of the Commission for Protection of Products with Geographical Indications, Food Safety Agency of BiH.
A better purchase price of branded products, up to 20% higher than the current ones, will certainly increase the number of producers.
Only original products will be sold on the shelves of markets or markets, under the name “Nevisnjiski”, and customer fraud will not be possible, because the designation of origin guarantees that they received the quality they paid for.
The producer Drago Šiljegović points out that the quality is better and that people recognize that and like to pay more than imported ones, which they can buy for about 40 pfennigs.
There is almost no household in the Nevesinje area that does not grow potatoes, for their own needs or for the market.
Branding, but also the support of the local government, resulted in a growing interest in this year’s sowing.
– About 300 hectares have been sown, the yield is about 20 tons per hectare and the annual yield is six thousand tons – says Siniša.
– We are now at the beginning of the road, we have received the label, but now we are determining the label, weight, traceability conditions and other things that must be respected, and most importantly the mass to respond quantitatively to the requests – adds Mayor Milenko Avdalović.
Producers of Herzegovinian milk cheese could also engage in the branding procedure after potato producers.
This specialty was found in the world’s first internet atlas of food and authentic products, among 10,000 products.
The specific technology of making cheese is described, and data on the locality from which it originates are given.
Cheese producer Miroslav Glogovac states that Herzegovinian cheese is produced from bellows all over high Herzegovina and that there are written traces that this cheese has been produced in this way for the last 700, 800 years.
Promotions, branding, but primarily the preservation of autochthonous recipes and conditions of organic production, Herzegovina is a candidate for a region of healthy food, which will be recognized in the world.
The list of products is long, from potatoes, cheese, honey, wine, brandy, to medicinal herbs and preparations.
TST
