WE DRAW ATTENTION TO THIS This year, as a result of timber not being removed on time and according to plan, the amount of it on forest roads and storage yards increased. What should have been done? In May, a meeting was organized to discuss the scientific management of forests, and it was decided there that logging in the forests should be halted until the amount of timber had fallen below the planned level. This decision, too, encountered obstacles during implementation. There were managers in enterprises, and also at the district level, who, in the name of fulfilling the overall production plan, wanted to cut with a “come on, everyone!” attitude. Three months have passed since May, and the amount of timber on forest roads and loading platforms has fallen considerably. Today, the stock of logs stands at 80 thousand m3, compared with 160 thousand m3 in the same period last year, or the 145 thousand m3 we had on June 1 this year. The stock has also fallen for mine props, barrel staves and firewood. On this basis, we are also making calculations for the 1991 plan. But we have concerns about the other ministries: although these problems were discussed in the press last year as well, no conclusions have been drawn. Specifically, we mean the inflated and unsubstantiated requests for timber for 1991. As the figures show, the Ministry of Food Industry merely compiles the requests submitted by its grassroots units. While this year’s firewood plan is 55 thousand stacked cubic metres, the request for next year has come to 110 thousand stacked cubic metres. Requests for sawn timber have doubled; those for barrels, vats and packaging crates are three times higher, while the request for plywood has risen from 10 to 280 m3. It is striking that no thought is given to repairing packaging: it is simply wasted and burned. Over the last 10 years, enterprises within this ministry’s system have been supplied with 500 thousand quintals of barrels and vats—which amounts to one 17 kg barrel for every resident of the Republic. Our farmers know how to look after barrels and extend their useful life, whereas in food-industry enterprises, especially dairies processing milk products, you find barrels without water. Why not organize barrel repairs properly at a number of centres? We are gradually beginning to implement the new economic mechanism. But will this mechanism allow us to work this way? Let the economist and specialist comrades in the ministry and its enterprises answer for themselves. Whatever their opinion, we cannot agree with the requests they have submitted to us. Meanwhile, the General Directorate of Fisheries is asking for 500 thousand crates next year, compared with the 250 thousand in this year’s plan. Does this mean that the fish catch will double in 1991? The other ministries have submitted similar requests, beginning with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Light Industry, the Ministry of Internal Trade, as well as other central institutions. In the same way, it has been said: if we accept these requests, next year we will have to cut 180–200 thousand m3 of timber for processing over and above this year’s plan. In other words, “come on, everyone,” let’s attack the forest, without thinking about saving timber or replacing it with alternatives. This is so true that, although wooden railway sleepers were removed from production by a special decision, we have returned to them again, gradually and with difficulty. Or why is the ongoing directive to save and replace firewood not being implemented? Are we still going to conduct studies in this field? The firewood balance is very poor: the ratio is one growth to four cuttings; assessed in this way, there is no reason for the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of Construction to request four times more firewood for next year than this year. Therefore, I repeat once again the same question that has gone unanswered for years: are we going to carry on like this? Will the woodcutter still lord it over the forester?! IRFAN MEKO director in the Wood Processing Directorate.

Achievements of the Kukës livestock breeders I know the difficulties caused this year by the exceptional drought. They were also considerable in livestock farming, since drought means less feed for livestock in quantity, quality and variety. The feed base is the main factor determining whether the tasks in this sector can be carried out. This makes the achievement of the livestock breeders of the Kukës district all the more valuable: they fulfilled the period’s milk-production target by 100.2 per cent. But who deserves the place of honour? First and foremost, the shepherds, managers and specialists of the Kolesjan agricultural cooperatives, which fulfilled the milk-production plan by 179 per cent. Alongside them, the people of Përbreg also deserve credit. Both these enterprises separated this year from the Bicaj and Shtiqën agricultural cooperatives, and this first achievement of the year clearly expresses the inspiration behind the separation. Not far behind them are the other shepherds of the toponymes, who are among the leading and most consistent on this front. But they are now realizing that to remain at the top in this field, increasingly more work is always required. The zootechnical station and the livestock breeders of the Vilë, Gjinaj, Golaj, Bushticë, Pishtë, Helshan, Kolsh and Arrën agricultural cooperatives, among others, have also substantially exceeded their milk-production targets. However, the agricultural cooperatives of Shëmri, Novoselë and Kalimash, and the Fajzë and Krumë state farms, among others, continue to lag considerably. The main factors behind this achievement are the dedication and persistent work of the Kukës livestock breeders, but several other factors are also clearly apparent. Livestock farming was the sector where elements of the new economic mechanism were first implemented. In particular, the implementation of new forms of remuneration contributed to this achievement. Day by day, the Kukës livestock breeders are renewing effective ways of organizing work. The Gjinaj cooperative put the piece-rate system into practice, which helps each flock achieve higher production figures. By one calculation, each shepherd is entitled to a wage of around 9 thousand lekë a year just for carrying out the assigned task. We should emphasize that the cooperative, too, benefits considerably from implementing this form of work organization. Shepherds, specialists and managers are therefore optimistic that the new forms of work organization and remuneration will provide ever greater motivation. HAZIZ DEMNUSHI

The milling-machine operators Flutura Birja and Irena Murati are among the most outstanding workers at the “Enver” plant in Tirana. (Photo: N. Xhufka) The milling-machine operators Flutura Birja and Irena Murati are among the most outstanding workers at the “Enver” plant in Tirana. (Photo: N. Xhufka)

The drought of recent years has also had adverse consequences for the agricultural enterprises of the Berat district. Among other things, it has also served as a “testing stone” for many managers and specialists: by demanding new paces, the discovery of reserves and more effective organization from them, it has, so to speak, disrupted that calm balance of work without difficulties or problems. There are many indicators that attest to this. Let us look at the economic and financial indicators: wherever these indicators have risen or have not been affected, the good work of managers and specialists is unmistakable. For people produce the figures, and those figures sum up their concerns and their increasingly vigorous efforts. In the agriculture section, among the enterprises distinguished by their resilience, we can mention the Lapardha agricultural cooperative. Why? Because over the past three years the wage per work norm has been maintained at 14 lekë. During this time, the income level has not fallen below 98 per cent, while expenditure has ranged from 90 to 94 per cent. The accumulation fund has been between 25 and 32 per cent, while that of

Even now, at the beginning of autumn, it is not too early to take stock of the agricultural year’s achievements as a whole. Before anyone else, the cooperative members of Elbasan themselves can make this assessment realistically, since they have already brought many of their products into storage. Naturally, a range of factors, above all the weather, have affected and shaped this year’s results, but each person’s mobilization has also played its part. These days, for example, the two most important campaigns are the harvesting of sugar beet and maize. Of the nine enterprises that had not yet harvested their sugar beet, seven have finished pulling it, and the other two will finish soon. As for maize harvesting, the daily schedule has only been followed in recent days. As we learn from the agriculture section, the agricultural enterprises in the Dumre area have harvested and stored the crop from 85 per cent or more of the planted area. Work has also been well organized at the Cërrik state farm and in the cooperatives of Gostimë, Përparim and Pajovë, where nearly half of the planted area has been harvested, and silage preparation is continuing alongside the collection of maize. How, then, can the managers of Shirgjan, Gjerfjan, Mollas and Shtërmen justify themselves when only 10–20 per cent of the planted area has been harvested on their farms? I say this because considerable damage to the maize has been observed, just as happened with the sugar beet. The best way to prevent this is to collect and store the crop quickly. There is no reason to abandon the well-established practice of organizing campaigns at agricultural enterprises, with workers from the district’s economic enterprises—primarily young people—to harvest and gather maize, a practice in which the Elbasan district has had a good tradition. All cooperative members would like the deficits in wheat, sunflower, sugar beet and tobacco, and even in maize production, not to be accompanied by significant shortfalls in maize production as well. Achieving this goal, however, requires mobilization at every level. SEJDIN CEKANI

With the recent rains, the tobacco plants have revived. This can be seen both in plots where, because of the drought, the plants had not yet fully grown, and in those where harvesting had already been completed. As a result of these conditions, new shoots have begun to emerge at the tops of the plants. This is by no means an insignificant crop and must not be underestimated. It is too early to withdraw the workers from tobacco harvesting for two reasons. First, drought has caused shortfalls in meeting the plan. Second, even in good years harvesting has continued well into autumn. The experience of some agricultural enterprises has shown that in October too, depending on climatic conditions, there is an opportunity to increase production. Therefore, in all districts and zones—from the lowlands and central areas to the mountainous ones—workers must not be withdrawn from this work. We are used to giving greater importance to the large leaves, but we must not forget that the small leaves at the top make up the highest-quality part of the crop. They simply need to be harvested and dried carefully. We must make good use of the opportunities that have arisen. We should not proceed with the attitude, “They didn’t take my tobacco when it was ready to be taken.” That is an excuse only for growers who have been eager to get rid of their tobacco for this year. Enterprises whose income is tied to this crop must under no circumstances give up harvesting it. There is good experience to draw on. In the Elbasan district, tobacco plots have been ploughed only when no leaves remain on the plants. It is true that the quality of the crop harvested now and later is not at the level of the quality obtained in July and August, when solar radiation is strongest. But it is equally true that autumn production has also yielded Grade II and Grade III quality. Only one basic indicator must be followed with scientific rigour: the proper ripeness of the leaves. We are all interested in improving quality, first and foremost those who grow the crop and will deliver it to state warehouses in a few days. The sales standard remains the same, without any change in the requirements, and must be applied fairly by both parties: producers and buyers. Tobacco is linked to many aspects and issues: the income of the producing enterprises, employment for workers in tobacco factories, and securing foreign currency for the country’s economy. Therefore, this issue must not be viewed one-sidedly, by saying, “We don’t need the autumn leaves because they remain in stock.” It is not that simple. There are no limits to tobacco quality, provided care is taken in processing the crop. In many plots, nearly 20 per cent of the crop remains unharvested, and in the mountainous areas this amount is even greater. Another considerable reserve is the crop of the semi-large-leaf tobaccos “Virginia” and “Burley”, which have been less affected by the drought. They are in great demand from industry, so their productive potential must be harvested in full. Here there is no need to invoke objective factors, because excuses regarding the conditions for cultivation and drying are unfounded. The best land, irrigation, greenhouses, charcoal-fired kilns and electric drying facilities have been made available for them. Yet interest and effort are not at the level required to fulfil the task. State investments must be repaid with high-quality production. Several rounds of harvesting have been completed, but a considerable amount of crop still remains to be gathered. Enterprises growing these tobaccos in the districts of Fier, Durrës, Lushnje, Elbasan and Korçë are urged to increase the pace and gather the crop in the fields as quickly as possible. If we want to fight persistently to increase export production, tobacco is one of those products. Nothing else should be left in the fields. ALI LAZARENI KADRI KYÇYKU at the Tobacco Institute, Cërrik.

WITH HEAVY AND MINING INDUSTRY Under the contract concluded with the Chinese firm MASHINPEX, Sulfuric Acid Plant No. 1 in Laç will be rebuilt. Construction of the facility will begin in 1991 and will be completed in the first quarter of 1992. The full value will be repaid over three years, while the portion payable in foreign currency is intended to be settled over two years through minerals. Discussions have been held with several French firms on the possibility of improving the technological process for forest exploitation, the internal and long-distance transport of timber, and its processing using specialized machinery and vehicles, as well as on several complete, modern production lines. The firms have secured financing from French banks for a fund of 150 million FF, to be provided in separate stages of 50 million FF each. The bank credit will cover these firms. The amount allocated to each stage will be repaid through net revenues generated each year by exporting 10 thousand m3 of beech sawn timber, 1.4 thousand m3 of plywood and 1.10 thousand m3 of beech logs. In other words, over a three-year period. The West German firm KRISHFELD has undertaken to rebuild the chrome-enrichment plant in Krastë, installing a new technological process. It has been agreed that the cost will be repaid in finished products. KIÇO KLOSI …withdraws from these companies. The amount allocated for each stage will be repaid from the net revenues generated each year by exporting 10,000 m³ of sawn beech timber, 1,400 m³ of plywood, and 1,100 m³ ● The West German firm KRISHFELD has undertaken the reconstruction of the chromium-enrichment plant in Krastë, by building a new technological scheme. It has been agreed that the amount will be repaid in finished product.

“Whoever got married and did not rejoice,” says a popular proverb. September brings many celebrations. Social dining venues are almost fully booked not only on Sundays, but also on weekdays. Taxis carrying newlyweds cross paths on the streets and stop in front of houses or halls where orchestras are playing at full volume. Seeing all this merriment and joy brings to mind the accounts of the English traveler Hju in the last century, who says that in Albania a wedding is not merely a family ceremony, but also a celebration for the clan, the neighborhood, and the village. Music, songs, and dances turn a wedding into a whole artistic arsenal. We would say that a wedding is an expression of brotherhood and love for one another, a symbol of union and unity that has endured since antiquity. Do you know how the wedding season opened in Tirana? A wedding with a flag On one Sunday this summer, wedding guests made their way around the streets of Tirana, led by the Albanian flag with its double-headed eagle. The wedding party had come from very far away—not just over three mountains, but across neighborhoods and beyond the ocean: Kosovar emigrants from America, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany. Isuf Gërvalla’s son was getting married. (Continued on page 3)

and Isuf’s friends came to the wedding in place of the father. The Gërvalla family is well known among Kosovar emigrants, as well as in Albania. Ermira, daughter of the well-known painter Kujtim Buza and a student at the Faculty of History and Philology, dressed in the bride’s white veil, is not a work of the paintbrush, but one of the young women of the whole city. The joy is immense and shared, but for a moment the memory of Isuf, brought down by Serbian bullets, disturbs some of the village wedding guests and dims their joy as they see Premton leading the bride. Even at celebrations like these, history inevitably enters in. There is nothing you can do about it; such is the life of an Albanian. A wedding, a couple, means life and continuity, generation after generation, for the homeland. At Premton and Ermira’s wedding, the rules of the venues were broken: 500 wedding guests took part that evening. It was something more than an ordinary ceremony. Most of the guests were students, friends of the bride and groom. They were from all over Albania. They held their wedding in their city; the 68 wedding guests who had come from abroad were rather surprised to see so many young guests, but the joy of the young people left them little time to think about it, swept them into its whirlpool, and made them feel at home again in their mother Albania. September, with its golden clarity, when ripe fruit falls from the branches of trees and brides’ white veils come and go, is the most beautiful month of the Mediterranean. Listen to these melodies of my homeland. Do they spring from the earth or descend from the sky?! Wave after wave, they come from the weddings, spreading through the courtyards of houses and the halls of restaurants, residential apartments and workers’ canteens. Weddings have established their joyful reign everywhere. Foreign visitors pass by these happy people, stop in their tracks and stare, then click their cameras and electronic video cameras. Why are our weddings so distinctive in their customs and beauty? A moment comes, just before midnight, when the songs, dances, and melodies ring out even louder. The wedding reaches its climax. If the foreign visitor’s attention is drawn to you, do not worry: the wedding party is arriving. Taxi drivers’ stories Driver Jonuz Navufi’s taxi has driven many couples. But this Sunday Nuz cannot quite manage to…