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 Environmental Best Practice
MURSALSKI TEA, BULGARIA PROTECTION OF THE NATURAL LANDS (THE HABITAT) OF
PIRINSKI MURSALSKI TEA (SIDERITIS SCARDICA)
PROJECT AIM
The overall objective is through the realisation of conditions to be created for the protection and salvation of the natural lands of Pirinski Mursalski tea (Sideritis scardica), together with acknowledging the public’s needs for the medicinal herb to be satisfied by the means of its cultivation under conditions close to the nature. Pirinski Mursalski tea is a herb with proven curative properties and, despite prohibitions against its collection and consequent safety measures, the gathering of the plant by local inhabitants has not stopped. Such harvesting has led to very good cultivation of the herb but there has been considerable damage to the natural habitat.
To combat this, a new competitive commercial product has been created – seedling and dried sprays of tea for the domestic Bulgarian market only. In this way, seasonal family business is developed and the environmental
benefit is that the plantation becomes very attractive place for both locals and tourists visiting the village of Bulgarian and foreign tourists visiting the village of Trigrad.
PROJECT ACHIEVEMENTS
A ten-year improvement programme has seen a marked improvement in the growing of the Pirinski Mursalski tea plant. Cultivated fields have been enlarged, the production process is ecologically clean and the last year has seen trade packaging and a sticker produced for the finished product.
The programme has showcased Pirinski Mursalski tea breeding as a viable alternative farming method and the spin-off has been more cultivation areas in other parts of country, thanks to existing resources conditions that make it ideal for a small family business to be set up. The best results are reached by enlarging the project through more essential oil extraction, resulting in an increased output of herb tablets and other nutritious supplements from the medicinal plant. Together with the immediate benefits for the people involved with the cultivation, the established plantation in the village of
Trigrad has become a tourist attraction and this contributes to improvement of the eco-tourism in the region.
WHAT DID THE PROJECT INVOLVE?
A nursery garden was established in which the Pirinski Mursalski tea (Sideritis scardica) is cultivated by planting tea seedlings. The nursery is in a private property in the town of Smolyan and there also is a plantation for the cultivation of the medicinal plant near the village of Trigrad in the Smolyan region.
Plantation areas are chosen specifically to match the highest natural levels at which the herb may grow, so no manure or fertilisers are used during cultivation and the herb retains its natural qualities. The end products – seedlings and packed dried herbs – are ideal commodities for a small family business.
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