How Our Grantee is Bringing New Opportunities to Puka Through Local Fruit Processing?
Returning home can be the beginning of something meaningful. For Alida รobaj, it became the opportunity to transform local resources into sustainable economic opportunities for her family and community.
After studying Archaeology and Cultural Heritage and spending several years in Tirana, Alida decided to return to her hometown of Puka. Motivated by the desire to raise her child in a healthier environment and reconnect with nature, she chose to invest her future where she grew up.
With the support of CNVP Foundation, Alida is implementing the project “From Fruit to Product,” an initiative that aims to establish a small fruit processing and drying unit in Puka. The project will enable the production of high-quality dried fruits and processed products, extending the value of seasonal harvests and creating access to wider markets.
Puka is known for its rich variety of fruits, including plums, apples, blueberries, raspberries and cherries. While these products are often sold fresh during a short harvesting season, Alida’s investment will allow them to be processed into products with a longer shelf life, reducing post-harvest losses and increasing their market value.
The initiative also promotes collaboration with women and families from surrounding rural communities who produce small quantities of high-quality fruits. By creating a local processing facility, the project will provide a reliable outlet for their products while strengthening cooperation and supporting local livelihoods.
Through investments in professional fruit dryers, stainless steel processing equipment, juice extraction technology and packaging tools, Alida is laying the foundations for a small but modern agro-food enterprise. Looking ahead, she also plans to develop locally produced gift packages featuring dried fruits from Puka, showcasing the region’s natural richness and traditional flavours to a broader market.
Alida’s journey demonstrates how investing in local resources, innovation and community collaboration can create new opportunities in rural areas. Her project is not only about processing fruitโit is about adding value to local production, supporting women producers, and encouraging young people to see rural communities as places where they can build successful and sustainable businesses.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ “๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฏ” ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต, ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ข, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.