Ljubuski (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (AFP)

Sun, virgin land and underground water in abundance: the thorns of southern Bosnia have been transformed in recent years into olive groves giving oils that take the medals.

"When I started planting olive trees, I was told: + You're nuts +", remembers, jovially, Dragan Mikulic, 65, who goes back and forth between his modern mill and his 50-year-old olive grove. hectares, in the Ljubuski region, where groups of collectors pick green fruits.

Fifteen years later, he is one of the largest olive growers in Bosnia, but also on the northern Adriatic coast.

Between the high mountains to the north and the sea to the south, its 7,000 trees perfectly aligned and whose branches bend under the weight of the fruit, are bathed in a soft autumn sun.

According to meteorological statistics, this is the case for more than 2,300 hours a year, in this southern region of the country, called Herzegovina.

"Look at this sun. It's like this all the time. The water that comes down from these mountains comes through here, I'm on its way to the sea. The soil is 30% sandy soil in which the trees breathe. , and 70% stone rich in minerals. Everything is there ", exclaims Dragan Mikulic.

A first "madness", he says, was to transform, using "tons of explosives", a rocky surface, covered with thorny shrubs, into exploitable land.

- "the tree of God" -

"It could be good for the plum, for the apple, but we chose the olive because it is, as we say here, the tree of God", adds the man who has won 32 medals to date. gold with its oil presented at competitions in Italy, Croatia and Bosnia.

Early picking started in mid-October.

Once collected, the olives are immediately transported to the mill for the cold extraction of a beautiful greenish-colored oil which ends up in the bottles a few hours later.

The procedure results in an extra virgin oil, rich in polyphenols, known for their antioxidant properties, he explains.

Mikulic was followed by dozens of producers from Herzegovina, including a number of winegrowers.

The area is known for its indigenous kinds of Zilavka and Blatina vines.

Production, very modest in comparison with giants such as Spain or Italy, which together represent 60% of world production, is constantly increasing.

Officially, 776 tonnes of olives were harvested in Bosnia in 2019, 27% more than in 2018.

The country officially has 65,000 trees, but Dragan Mikulic estimates that there are 300,000, compared to 3.7 million in neighboring Croatia, a regional leader.

But "with a graceful climate, uncontaminated soil and water", Herzegovina has "unimaginable possibilities for the development of olive growing," says Miro Barbaric, agronomist at the Bosnian Agro-Mediterranean Institute.

-groundwater-

It is precisely the access to groundwater, made possible for fifteen years thanks to new drilling techniques, which has encouraged the development of culture in this region, once a land of tobacco.

Due to the lack of very rare rains, the olive trees need between 150 and 200 liters of water per day, according to Mikulic, who drilled two boreholes in his olive grove and set up the drip irrigation system.

His neighbor Jure Susac, 66, a wine-grower at the base, says he drilled his estate nearly 300 meters deep.

"I know the olive likes a lot of water. I have lots of it. The pump just keeps working and, to be honest, I don't know how much but they are given a lot of water in the summer. And, Here they are, they give it back to us, "he said, pointing to the clusters of green olives on the trees" in excellent health ", a few days before harvest.

Jure Susac, whose olive grove is more modest, specifies that he has exactly 151 trees, of which 130 bear fruit.

The year is "exceptional" and he hopes to extract more than 500 liters.

He displayed his many medals in the house.

"Everywhere I went to competitions with my oil, I won the gold medal for quality. We are now often ahead of Croats," he says.

Despite a high price for the standard of living in the country, one of the poorest in Europe, namely 13 euros for a liter, Bosnian olive growers sell almost all of their production in the country.

"If we had a lot more, we could sell everything," says Jure Susac.

© 2020 AFP