The glory of fragrant Crimea is being revived
In the USSR, the Crimean essential oil industry provided the country with foreign exchange earnings. Each bottle of French perfume contained a drop of Crimea - lavender, rose, and sage oils were exported to Western European countries, despite the Iron Curtain.
Now ether carriers are asking for government support. Before Crimea joined the Russian Federation, such a position was not even on the list of agricultural crops, and it took more than 37 years for lavender, sage, rose and 5 other essential plants to become full members of the agro-industrial sector.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Crimea Sergei Petelin spoke about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Some time ago, essential oil crops were included in the list of agricultural crops, which will allow us to receive assistance from the federal budget,” says Sergei Petelin. “We hope that state aid will begin to flow to the essential oil industry, because significant funds are needed to achieve the level of development in the USSR.”
It is noted that in Soviet times, about 10 thousand hectares of land were allocated for essential oils, which were not suitable for growing other crops - rocky soils, on slopes, with no possibility of irrigation, produced more than 120 tons of oil, which was worth its weight in gold.
In terms of its aromatic properties, Crimean lavender, rose, sage, and fennel oils had no analogues and were popular among perfumers. But now natural ingredients in the perfume industry have replaced synthetic products, which are easily customized and are cheaper.
However, in the Arab world they remain fans of natural products, and in light of the reorientation of exports to the countries of the Middle East, Crimean producers have something to offer to connoisseurs of natural products.
“The essential oil industry is developing only in one subject of the Russian Federation, and the problems of one subject are not so significant in comparison with the problems of the entire agriculture,” Petelin complained. “And for Crimea, these crops make it possible to introduce lands into crop rotation where nothing else will grow, and even the launch of the North Crimean Canal will not affect these fields - they are no longer suitable for anything.”
While waiting for the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation to recognize the essential oil industry as its jurisdiction, funds are being sought in the Crimean budget to support new plantings. Investments per 1 hectare of ether carriers amount to about 800 thousand rubles. Lavender comes into full bloom in the third year and until this time farmers need to receive financial assistance. The Republican 20-25 million rubles are enough for 20 hectares of plantings and their care.
But even this was enough for the lavender fields in the village of Turgenevka, Bakhchisarai region, to triple their area in a few years from 80 to 240 hectares, becoming an object of attraction for tourists and the venue for the “Our Lavender” festival. And even if the scale of the event does not go beyond the rural, the main thing is to start walking. This is what all the farmers did who decided to revive the former glory of the fragrant Crimea.
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