The strawberry harvest has begun in the Vrgorac region, but for local growers, the problem is finding a sufficient number of strawberry pickers.
This year’s strawberry season is delayed by about ten days, and instead of the usual first harvests in mid-April, the first harvests started in early May. Growers complain that vegetation was delayed due to the past winter, but there is also a problem with the workforce.
>>>Record Strawberry and Rapeseed Production
Unofficially, it is learned that for about ten days, producers have been intensively searching for the necessary strawberry pickers for this season, but so far there are not enough. Vrgorac is a town from which a large number of young people who usually did the harvesting have moved to Ireland and Germany in the past year, and, as unofficially reported, growers are not willing to raise the hourly wage for pickers from 20 to 25 kuna or more.
The first strawberries are sold to wholesalers for 20 kuna per kilogram, while in retail they reach a price of up to 35 kuna per kilogram.
Negotiations regarding the hourly wage for pickers are still ongoing, and in the meantime, the ‘workforce’ has gone to the Makarska Riviera to clean apartments and boats for a much better hourly rate.
