Local/Regional Economic Development in South ... - Value Chains

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7. Transnational Exchange of Political and Scientific Experience –
Best Practices in the Wine Industry
Hermann Recknagel
Short description of the approach
With around 700,000 hectares, the wine-growing countries
of South-Eastern Europe have approximately 10 %
of the world’s viticultural area. In South-Eastern Europe,
the cradle of European viticulture, wine has been made
along a narrow geographical band with suitable temperature
ranges along the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
Culturally, viticulture and enjoying wine are deeply anchored
in the societies of South-Eastern Europe. A large
number of the holidays related to viticulture are important
social events in the rural regions, such as the start of the
pruning, the flowering of the vines, the beginning of the
harvest, and the end of the grape harvest.
In addition to these “soft” factors, viticulture offers substantial
economic benefits in the rural wine growing regions
by opening up additional options for income.
Depending on the geographical situation, beyond the
self-supply to the family, the proceeds from viticulture
average around 10 to 25 % of the total income from agricultural
activity. Grapes are a relatively scarce commodity
and can therefore normally generate a significantly higher
economic value added in the open market than is possible
by marketing basic foodstuffs. Cultivating wine grapes
thus contributes directly to reducing poverty in the rural
regions and increases the attractiveness of the rural life for
the younger generation.
The organization of the value chain from cultivating vines
up to marketing of the finished product in the bottle exhibits
a wide range of possibilities depending on the wine
growing region and country. Here, the economic attractiveness
of viticulture is a significant driver for the basic
trend toward continued development of the value chain
on to cluster-like structures.
The approach to developmental consulting in the wine
growing countries of South-Eastern Europe is characterized
by two significant aspects. Although the countries
have grown apart in recent decades with regard to the existing
know-how, a 2004 survey of 73 South-Eastern European
experts showed that the problem areas underlying
the wine industry are of a similar nature in all countries
in the region.
Prominent participants from the political, business, and
scientific communities confirmed the problem yielded by
the survey at a conference of South-Eastern Europe’s winegrowing
countries held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in spring 2005
and 2006 by GTZ on behalf of BMZ. The political deci-
sion-makers understand the constraints and formulated
corresponding promotional needs:
• Technical Cooperation (in order of its importance
according to the 2004 survey of experts): vine cultivating
and propagation, training and education, legal
framework, vine register, export and other promotional
measures, quality control
• Financial collaboration: vine plantings, wine cellar
technology, viticulture technology, quality wine system,
other
Project implementation
The exchange of experience lacking in the wine industry
between the wine growing countries in South-Eastern
Europe also led GTZ to take the initiative in 2003. It was
agreed the cooperation should have two thrusts in order
to improve the mutual exchange of information, to support
political decision-making, as well as to develop joint
projects.
It was agreed the agricultural ministers and state secretaries
would meet annually in connection with the regional
viticultural trade fair in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. This meeting
would be a platform for the exchanging experiences and
political decision-making between the countries. These
meetings took place for the first time in 2004 under the
motto “Global trends in the wine sector – consequences
for the countries of South-Eastern Europe”. In 2005, the
topic was “Wine sector financing in South-Eastern Europe”.
At both events the national delegations were responsible
for their own contributions and arrived at joint
resolutions, which have now significantly facilitated the
exchange of experience between the countries. The conferences
are supplemented by a workshop by experts on
the same topics that also takes place annually. Starting in
2005, these workshops have been taking place in a different
country in South-Eastern Europe each year (2004 in
Bulgaria, 2005 in Romania, 2006 in Serbia).
The second platform for intensifying the scientific exchange
of experience has taken place since 2003 as an annual
conference of viticultural experts.
One important partial result of this cooperation is the decision
of the agricultural ministers in 2005 to expand the
collaboration to include joint promotion and marketing.
Bulgaria was given overall coordination for arriving at a
common development strategy for this. In the next step
for the regional collaboration, the plan is to set key points
of a joint strategy, which are also intended to be incorpo-