Journal of International Scientific Publications: Ecology & Safety

JOURNAL OF

International Scientific Publications: Ecology

Safety, Volume 7, Part

Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journals

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Published by Info Invest Ltd www.sciencebg.net ISSN 1313-2563, 2013, Bulgaria (EU)

Journal of International Scientific Publications: Ecology


ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net GROWING THE PYRETHRUM AND OLIVES IN DALMATIA IN THE INERBELLUM Marija Beni Penava University of Dubrovnik, Branitelja Dubrovnika 29, Dubrovnik 20000, Croatia

Abstract This paper explores, using archive records and relevant literature, the economic importance of indigenous Dalmatian Pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium) and olive fruit in the Interbellum which were the main agricultural export products of Southern Croatia. Pyrethrum is an exceptional natural insecticide which has only recently been in the focus of attention with the onset of organic farming. The tradition of parallel growing olive trees and Pyrethrum in Mediterranean Croatia, abandoned in mid twentieth century, was reintroduced for environmental purposes and the promotion of tourism. Growing these two crops on the same land provided the harvest of both the olive fruit and the Pyrethrum flowers; while Pyrethrum protected the olive groves; until it was abandoned with modern systems of protection. Due to technical obsolescence in the procedure of extracting olive oil, the remaining olive husk – a biomass still rich in oil – remained. Although the energetic potential of this worthy waste was exceptional, the bulk of the olive husk was sold cheap and partly used as fodder. Key words: growing, Pyrethrum, olives, olive husk, Dalmatia 1. GROWING PYRETHRUM IN DALMATIA The author Petar Biankini wrote about pyrethrum in the 1880s, so did agriculturalist Stanko Ožani whose paper on pyrethrum was published by the Ministry of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1930 (Biankini, 1881; Ožani , 1930). The quality as well as the whiteness of its petals singled out the domestic pyrethrum from the world competition. Depending on the harvest season, there were three categories of the pyrethrum: with opened, semi opened and closed flowers. Even though there were two other sorts available: the Persian and the Caucasian; Dalmatian Pyrethrum was dominant on the market and managed to suppress their sales. Notably, the Dalmatian Pyrethrum enhanced the effect of the insecticide Zacherlin which was produced from Persian raw material in Zacherlfabrik in Vienna. The Croatian factory for processing pyrethrum Pieretrin joint-stock company was situated in Zagreb, Branimirova street. Growing pyrethrum in various parts of Europe, Asia, Africa or Australia could not be sustained since it lacked the Mediterranean climate. Nevertheless, growing pyrethrum succeeded in the far-east Japan, whose high quality pyrethrum still grown today has Dalmatian origins. Pyrethrum grown at various parts of the east Adriatic coast was of varying quality and could not achieve the same price on the market. The best quality pyrethrum was grown on the island of Hvar, followed by crops grown near Trogir and Šibenik. Analysis of crop samples grown in the areas around Trogir, Dubrovnik and that in Monte Negro showed that pyrethrum powder from around Trogir has the fastest effect, i.e. the fly died in less than a minute, while samples of petals from the Dubrovnik area and the neighbouring Montenegrin coast both achieved fly-deaths at identical values of one minute and two seconds (Ožani , 1930). During the 1920s, workshops were organised about growing, picking, quality sorting and storing pyrethrum. The impact these courses would have had on better growing pyrethrum was obstructed by the situation in the world market which was encountering a crisis. Oscillations in its production were permanently present since mass production only started with the onset of the winery crisis. Pyrethrum

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ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net crops directly depended on wine sales, pyrethrum was grown in neglected vineyards at the time of the Wine Clause with Italy (1891-1903), and it spread with the spread of grapevine diseases. Even though it was grown as a single crop in neglected vineyards, it was more often grown with olive trees. Pyrethrum grew alongside roads, bordering vineyards and olive groves, as well as on burnt forests since farmers often burnt communal and all other land to plant pyrethrum. The crucial factor in growing pyrethrum was in its redemption price, so this Dalmatian crop had, apart from its quality which made it the no. 1 in the world, another feature and that was sharp oscillations in production which threatened with completely cessation in times of difficult sales (Table 1). The alltime record high in pyrethrum production in the counties of Makarska, Split, Šibenik, Supetar, Hvar, Kor ula and Dubrovnik, in the 1920s, was 1925. Table 1 – Production of pyrethrum in the counties: Makarska, Split, Šibenik, Supetar, Hvar, Kor ula and Dubrovnik in 1913 and from 1920 to 1929. Production of pyrethrum (x 100kg) County

1913

1920

1921

1922

1923

1924

1925

1926

1927

1928

1929

Total

Makarska

610

150

204

603

870

900

1.100

1.150

865

640

420

7.512

Split

1.00 0

90

100

240

1.40 0

1.60 0

2.210

1.950

1.22 5

1.44 0

1.15 0

12.40 5

Šibenik

330

230

324

531

800

1.33 0

2.400

1.670

1.59 8

600

500

10.31 3

Supetar

420

130

187

300

650

850

1.026

950

640

500

480

6.133

Hvar

1.91 0

510

703

1.54 5

2.00 0

1.92 0

2.750

3.305

1.49 5

1.16 6

950

18.25 4

Kor ula

190

50

56

68

150

220

550

570

200

300

300

2.654

Dubrovni k

950

220

290

464

1.40 0

1.38 0

2.050

2.150

915

950

765

11.53 4

Total

5.41 0

1.38 0

1.86 4

3.75 1

7.27 0

8.20 0

12.08 6

11.74 5

6.93 8

5.59 6

4.56 5

68.80 5

Source: Report for the period 1928-1929, pp. 138-139 The unsteady market was just one of the reasons for the aggravating sales of pyrethrum since a demand for refined pyrethrum was present even in the times of crisis. The real disadvantage was the lack of any form of processing. Only rarely was pyrethrum ground into powder, and that was an exception since it was sold as unrefined flowers; it wasn’t processed into powder, gel or pyrethrum liquid as the American market demanded. Leading importers from USA used processed pyrethrum as an insecticide, so Dalmatian Pyrethrum, unprocessed and crude, had no chance against the superior competition from Iran, USA and, particularly, Japan; in mid 1920s this Far Eastern country produced more pyrethrum than all of Dalmatia. High prices in the previous years had initiated its mass production in Japan, yet as the world consumption, or demand, fell behind the supply, the prices soared inevitably. Comparing the prices in the New York market in July, August and September 1925 (Japanese Pyrethrum $13, Dalmatian $17) as well as a thorough analysis of Dalmatian and Japanese Pyrethrum, we can conclude that Japanese Pyrethrum stored all three sorts of flowers (open, semi-opened and 131




ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net closed) together which was far more popular on the Western markets than the Dalmatian Pyrethrum stored in three different ways. Furthermore, Japanese Pyrethrum packing was by far more practical; it preserved the quality of the product at the same time being far more attractive to the buyer than the primitive packaging from the East Adriatic coast. Dalmatian Pyrethrum was not pressed or packed until shipment, no matter how much time had passed from its picking, what had as a result an extremely dry crop with petals fallen of the flowers. Thus it does not surprise that a package of Dalmatian Pyrethrum had too many insects and pests, creating prejudice and immense damage to the reputation of the producer and seller of Dalmatian Pyrethrum (Dubrova ka oblast, 1925). Modernised production of pyrethrum was out of the question in all of the discussed period since domestic farmers didn’t invest in fertilising, while the processing techniques were primitive. With no tools, workers picked pyrethrum flowers by hand accumulating daily around 25kgs. Apart from the above mentioned, the production of pyrethrum was also jeopardised by counterfeit flowers and sprigs, which compromised the quality of the produce, resulting in uncertain sale outcomes. As an example, pyrethrum farmers complained about pyrethrum stubble buyers suspecting they used counterfeit pyrethrum flowers and demanded, for preserving the quality and protecting the industry that the counterfeit pyrethrum sellers be severely punished. Illegal marketing and counterfeit pyrethrum lasted in a short post-war period and diminished with the falling of the crop prices, so the proposition that illegal markets of pyrethrum existed in the 1930s is unfounded. The Dalmatian Pyrethrum lost half of its quality in the process of being picked, dried and stored. Pyrethrum was picked mostly by women, elder members and children; the men were busy with physically more demanding jobs. It is no wonder then that picking was slow, lasted up to 30 days, with the flowers in full bloom. Such an approach to growing and picking of crops was out of step with the modern market trends the Japanese model imposed of semi-opened flowers. In Dalmatia, most of the flowers picked were not only open but in full bloom, i.e. with the petals fallen off, as a result of belated picking. The picked crops would then be inappropriately dried on threshing floors in the scorching summer heat without being covered in the night. Crudely piled by broom sweeping, the dry pyrethrum would lose it precious yellow powder adding dirt and pests at the same time. All of that would be followed by storing in most often inappropriate and humid storage places. Implementing the Pyrethrum Quality Control Ordinance, as well as quality control of exported crops, there was a real danger of jeopardising the profitability of the pyrethrum trade due to additional procedures and compensation costs, which was contrary to the reason of its implementation. An excellent example of splendid production, trade and export stimulation of pyrethrum was Japan, where a Pyrethrum Ordinance was passed seven years before the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which far from jeopardising or repressing pyrethrum sales, helped to develop its production (Chamber of Trades and Crafts, 1933). However, Japan achieved its world market domination in selling pyrethrum when it united its salesmen in Pyrethrum Sales Association which appeared united on the market and was the only body authorised to represent Japanese Pyrethrum abroad. On the other hand, Dalmatian salesmen were completely disorganised and were left at the mercy of the brokers from Trieste. Export and promotion of pyrethrum in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was controlled by ‘Institut kraljevske banske uprave’, a governing Institute in the city of Split. The ordinance demanded an expensive and complicated procedure for quality control performed in situ by commissioners of each district. This procedure resulted in reduced prices of the crop and jeopardised the cost-effectiveness of growing pyrethrum. As opposed to the situation with the Japanese model of controlling pyrethrum quality, and to the main purpose of the Ordinance, pyrethrum growers in Dalmatia were in no way protected. Maintaining the quality of pyrethrum was left to the producers’ own devices. The purpose of the Ordinance was a better sale on foreign markets and it was very successful in the peak of the campaign. However, foreign buyers were only interested in high quality goods, i.e. crops with 0.90% of pyrethrin which was not present in Dalmatian Pyrethrum in crops in 1934. Even the 132




ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net best Dalmatian Pyrethrum from the Šibenik, Trogir or Bra districts with 0.80 to 0.85% of pyrethrin couldn’t meet the required standards. The bulk of the crop measured 0.40 to 0.60% of pyrethrin. Subsequent measurements confirmed disastrous results. Following four months storage, pyrethrin levels in the best quality crop fell to 0.65 to 0.70%, with four months later falling to 25% of its original amount (Chamber of Trades and Crafts, 1935). The phenomenon of loss of quality ingredients with storage was characteristic to all pyrethrum, regardless of its origin. It was absurd that the pyrethrum quality control analysis according to the Ordinance was valid for 6 months which was completely unrealistic. Thus it can be concluded that the Pyrethrum Quality Control Ordinance passed in 1934 after a long preparation period, which also controlled all export crops, had serious oversights and didn’t stimulate pyrethrum farmers in the Dubrovnik region. Four years later, control stations in Split and Zagreb used the modern Seil method of analysis and determined the process of processing pyrethrum. These innovations were introduced with the attempt to increase export of Dalmatian pyrethrum to USA (Chamber of Trades and Crafts, 1938). Many regulations in the Ordinance were added hastily, without checking their efficiency, jeopardising the already established pyrethrum trade. The only way to win over the international markets was to improve the quality of pyrethrum crops since only top quality produce could find buyers in times of great crisis. With a serious approach to pyrethrum production, sales and farming of poor quality crops would be avoided, a standard would be imposed on Dalmatian pyrethrum which would then achieve a breakthrough at world level. Stalling sales in hope of achieving higher prices, unorganised buy-outs and bad strategies in achieving a unique body of Dalmatian farmers on the market blocked any chance of success against the dominant Japanese pyrethrum which set the price and the rules on a world level. Instead of expensive controls of pyrethrum in the field, long analytic procedures or useless six-month long valid quality certificates, it would have been, on the long run, far more profitable for the economy as well as the budget of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to have had expert support and training organised for the farmers. This poor and inadequate approach gave the Dalmatian Pyrethrum no chance of placement in the competitive world market. 2. Olive industry and oil production in Dalmatia within the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. By the end of World War I, Dalmatia spread over the area of 12,732 km2, with a population of 620,432 (Definite census dated January 31, 1932). Agriculture was the main economic branch of the population even though there was only 246,188ha (around 608,000 acres) of fertile land; around 20% of all land in Dalmatia ( uri , 1928). Olive industry, together with viticulture, was the main agricultural branch in Dalmatia. Even though olive industry had certain advantages compared to viticulture, there was no constant development in this branch. Olive groves were grown and cultivated or abandoned and neglected according to the demand and profitability in olive oil markets. Although olives bear fruit even in periods of drought and are undemanding, their disadvantages are inconsistency of the crop and susceptibility to disease, especially to the olive fruit fly. Dalmatia had 4,020,000 olive trees on its 33,460ha of area (Table 2). Agricultural overpopulation in Dalmatia was extreme, the population density was 564.5 per square kilometre of cropland in the 1920s (Frangeš, 1938). Apart from that, land fragmentation, crisis in viticulture, various forms of backward feudal arrangements where the landowners could get compensated in goods, money or by other means, slowed down the development of agriculture in Dalmatia. Agrarian reform was not implemented in Dalmatia by the beginning of the WWII, so hunger and poverty were ubiquitous in the Interbellum. Such circumstances caused mass emigrations of Dalmatian workers. Those left behind tended to olive groves. Olives were used in various ways: the tree was used for fire, leaves as cattle fodder, fruit for savoury food, oil for dressing and light; the remaining olive husk after pressing was either used as cattle fodder of sold to facilities for oil extraction. Precisely for its exploitability was this culture so common, especially in the viticulture crisis. Most olive trees were over sixty years of age, yet contrary to the 133




ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net popular belief about the longevity of olive trees, young trees have bigger and steadier harvests. Replacing old olive trees was not considered important even though they were frequently susceptible to diseases in the Interbellum. According to the number of olive trees in Dalmatia (Table 2), Zadar area was leading with 870,000 trees followed by Dubrovnik region with 797,000 in 1927 ( uri , 1929). Table 2 – number of olive trees in Dalmatia in 1927 County Zadar Benkovac Knin

Number of trees 870.000 40.000 2.000

Šibenik

517.000

Split

442.000

Imotski

125.000

Makarska

332.000

Bra

500.000

Hvar

143.000

Metkovi

18.000

Kor ula

234.000

Dubrovnik

797.000

Total

4.020.000

Source: uri , 1929, p. 42 Olive oil industry did not follow the progress of olive cultivation so modern oil refineries did not follow suit; oil was extracted in a primitive manner, producing a limited amount of top quality oil only for sale to the buyers from the continental parts of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. At the same time, lesser quality oil was exported to Italy and France only to be bought back refined and expensive. Still, there are indicators that there was a gradual decrease in import and increase in export while the main partner in export was Italy. For the record, in 1926 a total of 127,362kgs (124,248kgs to Italy alone) was exported, with 459,005kgs (114,192kgs from Italy) imported; while in 1929 the total export was 1,015,368kgs (963,968kgs to Italy), with import being 181,559kgs (83,100kgs from Italy) (Medini, 1930). Olive presses were outdated technology thus first quality oil was seldom produced. Only half of the presses were used for commercial purposes since their owners used them for their own needs. In the process of oil extraction, the remaining biomass is an extremely worthy waste. That waste is composed of pressed olive stones, mashed olives and vegetative water from the fruit with remains of the olive oil. That precious biomass was processed from ancient times, dried and composted, as well as used as fuel or cattle fodder. It is a natural herbicide used to prevent growth of grass and weed. Extracted olive fruit biomass was used as fuel in steam machines and recent studies have shown that it is the energy source of the future. This topic of exploiting olive biomass and its usage mostly as fuel was the subject of agricultural studies (Juki ; uri ; Vo a; Matin; Januši , 2006). Olive biomass was

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ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net rarely used for fuel in Dalmatia since this worthy waste from oil extraction was mostly used as pig fodder. Table 3 – oil produced: hectolitres from 1913 to 1929 Oil produced in hectolitres per year County

Total

1913

1920

1921

1922

1923

1924

1925

1926

1927

1928

1929

180

310

500

250

660

370

350

840

1.06 4

1.46 4

20

6.008

1.

Benkov ac

2.

Knin

5

10

20

10

22

15

20

27

20

36

25

210

3.

Imotski

-

5

10

10

16

8

-

20

18

21

20

128

4.

Metkovi

50

80

150

80

140

200

-

200

686

500

1.50 0

3.586

5. Makars ka

3.00 0

5.60 0

10.7 00

5.80 0

12.5 00

7.60 0

750

5.00 0

6.66 0

6.63 0

12.0 00

76.24 0

6.

Split

1.60 0

2.90 0

4.80 0

3.70 0

6.20 0

1.38 0

550

3.12 0

2.50 3

6.31 0

6.50 0

39.56 3

7.

Šibenik

2.60 0

5.20 0

9.10 0

7.70 0

9.00 0

6.45 0

4.85 0

7.20 0

7.50 0

7.00 0

7.90 0

74.50 0

8.

Biograd

900

1.70 0

2.70 0

2.60 0

3.50 0

3.05 0

1.49 0

2.82 4

1.60 0

4.50 0

4.30 0

29.16 4

9.

Preko

1.60 0

2.80 0

4.50 0

4.20 0

5.50 0

4.70 0

2.36 0

4.40 0

2.40 7

9.00 0

4.00 0

45.46 7

1 0.

Supetar

1.20 0

1.90 0

3.50 0

3.90 0

6.16 0

1.50 0

600

5.50 0

2.52 0

3.31 5

6.50 0

36.59 5

1 1.

Hvar

400

750

1.20 0

3.80 0

6.10 0

1.45 0

350

1.67 0

1.44 7

2.92 0

3.40 0

23.48 7

1 2.

Kor ula

800

1.50 0

2.50 0

3.90 0

8.50 0

6.50 0

500

1.90 0

12.3 00

8.90 0

10.0 00

57.30 0

1 3.

Dubrov nik

2.30 0

4.50 0

7.20 0

5.60 0

8.45 0

6.80 0

800

7.60 0

5.00 0

8.60 0

12.0 00

68.85 0

1 4.

Kotor

1.60 0

2.90 0

4.70 0

3.70 0

5.60 0

4.60 0

500

4.50 0

3.40 0

4.60 0

5.20 0

41.30 0

16.2 35

30.1 55

51.5 80

45.2 50

72.3 48

44.6 23

13.1 20

44.8 01

47.1 25

63.7 96

73.3 65

502.3 98

Total

Source: Report for the years 1928-1929, 1929, pp 134-135 and personal accounting The production of olive biomass was very unstable since it depended on the olive harvest. It can be seen on the example in the Dubrovnik Chamber of Trades and Crafts area (which comprised the districts of Dubrovnik, Kor ula and Boka Kotorska) that in 1924: 1,402,320 olive trees gave 6,188,700kgs of biomass; 1,379,033 olive trees gave 835,100kgs of biomass in 1925; and from 1,379,033 olive trees 3,807,700kgs of biomass was obtained in 1926 (Dubrova ka oblast, 1927). There 135




ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net was a difference in quality in biomass that came from ordinary olive presses containing a higher percentage of oil than from that coming from motor olive presses. Nevertheless, higher quality biomass did not always achieve better price due to the ignorance of olive growers and the deceit of tradesmen who often paid cheaply for the precious commodity. Uneducated peasants fed their pigs with the valuable biomass while tradesmen belittled its quality skilfully reselling it as worthless biomass. The farmers traded olive biomass at a price of 40 to 90 dinars per kilogram which depended on the quality of the crop. The reason was the usability of biomass for farm animals, mostly pigs. CONCLUSION Numerous Dalmatian families in the Interbellum lived off growing pyrethrum and olives. These two were often combined particularly after the vineyard crisis. The Dalmatian indigenous pyrethrum, which had for centuries successfully repelled insects and was very much respected in the world market, is today repressed by Kenyan pyrethrum, as well as that from Tanzania, Ecuador and Japan. The authentic Dalmatian pyrethrum is almost forgotten. However, modern ecological approach to agriculture declares a comeback of this worthy biodegradable insecticide. The reason for abandoning combined growth of pyrethrum and olive trees has been the move to conventional systems of protection, a steep development in chemical industry and synthetic pyrethroids which replaced natural pyrethrin that was extracted from pyrethrum flowers. Thus, it is impossible to picture growing olives today without a regular and adequate chemical protection from its main pests in the Republic of Croatia – the olive fruit fly dacus (Dacus olea) and the olive moth (Prays oleae). Even though we rarely see such combined crops today, the new projects of the Council for Research in Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia open the possibility for reducing environment pollution and using pesticides with contamination of olive fruit at the same time. Extremely rich biomass – mashed olives left-over after pressing, was the subject of vitriolic debates between the local authorities and the farmers and was interesting to the state ever since the 1920s. Even though this valuable waste had excellent energy potential, most of it was sold as worthless and often became fodder to farm animals. Outdated technology in Dalmatian presses made olive biomass, which was still rich in oil, treated as waste and redeemed cheap for repressing abroad for oil. Such refined and costly oil was imported to the Yugoslav market. Environmental studies on waste management research olive biomass which regrettably often ends up as useless waste and, because of its long decomposition, threatens the environment. It must be noted that the Republic of Croatia hasn’t yet found a viable solution for exploiting valuable olive biomass, just like in the times of the Yugoslav monarchy. REFERENCES Sources: State archive Dubrovnik, Dubrova ka oblast: - No. 27-35, box 116. A letter by Pavle Krovi , general consulate of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in New York no. 11407/25 - No. 4-10, box 235. Olive industry data 14th May 1927 State archive Dubrovnik, Trgova ko-obrtni ka komora Dubrovnik:

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ISSN 1313-2563, Published at: http://www.scientific-publications.net - box 4001-4610. A letter by Trade industrial Chamber of Split about Pyrethrum Quality Control Ordinance) No. 3057/1933 - box 467-1000. A report about the sales of pyrethrum, 1st March 1935 - box 1535-2000. A letter by Trade and crafts industrial Chamber in Split) No. 1801-3/1938 Literature: 1.

Biankini, Petar Luka, (1881) Buha (Pyrethrum Cinerariaefolium), Zadar

2.

uri , Bogoljub (ed.), (1929) Privreda i radnici u Dalmaciji, Workers Chamber for Dalmatia, Split, p. 2, 42

3.

Final census results from 31st January 1921, (1932) Sarajevo, p. 250

4.

Frangeš, Oto, (1938) The problems of relative overpopulation in Yugoslavia, Belgrade, p. 7

5.

http://www.moreintelligentenergy.eu/ internet site entry on 29th December 2012

6.

A report of the conferences of industrial chambers of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Dubrovnik, on 25th and 26th May 1930, (1930) Trade and Crafts Chamber Dubrovnik and Kotor,(Trade and Crafts Chamber for Dubrovnik and Kotor) Dubrovnik

7.

Report for the years 1928-1929, (1929) Trade and Crafts Chamber Split, Split

8.

Juki , Željko; Kri ka, Tajana; uri , Duška; Vo a, Neven; Matin, Ana; Januši , Vanja, (2006) Possibilities of olive cake utilization in energy production, Krmiva 48, pp. 77-80

9.

Medini, Milorad ed. (1930) Stanje i potrebe privrede u podru ju Trgova ko-obrtni ke komore u Dubrovniku, Trade and Crafts Chamber Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, p. 90

10.

Ožani , Stanko, (1930) Buha (Pyrethrum Cinerariaefolium D. C.). Belgrade, p. 51

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