“I often thought about it becoming a luxury item. (…) Blueberry prices have risen sharply because the harvest is poor,” he told BNS.
Vytautas Česnys, head of the community of the village of Naujejės Valkininkai, where there is a market for such goods, says that mostly older people go to the forests.
“Young people don’t want, young people just eat,” said V. Česnys to BNS.
“Our standard of living is rising, the forests are emptying, those villagers who used to go mostly, because the people of Vilnius and Kaunas don’t go, they don’t collect mushrooms and they don’t take them to the shops, and the villages, go to the village and you’ll see – are empty”, stressed V. Varanavičius, who also owns Varėna forest products processing and export company “Vipreka”.
According to him, the demand for fresh forest products is also decreasing in Germany and France, where most Lithuanian blueberries and cranberries are exported.
“Those who traditionally had to eat those field mushrooms, they are also traveling uphill a little bit, just like here, and those traditions are diminishing little by little. I am not saying that there is no use, it is there, but significantly less than it used to be. If those mushrooms become more expensive, they are no longer needed,” he said.
Despite this, according to V. Česnis, people in Lithuania still actively visit markets.
“It’s not decreasing (visitors at the market – BNS), it’s the same. Our market is now being reconstructed, beautified, and made more civilized to make it convenient for both merchants and buyers,” said the community leader.
According to V. Varanavičius, squirrels are currently sold at 4.5 euros per kilogram, blueberries at 3 euros.
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2024-07-23 20:42:59
