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Now the plant has entered the harvest season and the work intensity is very high. Women say they come from Libohova and Nepravishta, and although the incomes are seasonal, the interest for the Albanian Mountain Tea is growing so that the cultivated area has also been increasing year after year.
"It's curative. Everything is bio here, nothing else. We work 3 months here. The work begins in March and ends now at the end of June. It's a good job opportunity because we all work." a lady says in an interview.
The Mountain tea is known with the scientific name Sideritis Syriaca and is in Albania part of the 'red book of plants' because of the threat of extinction and its collection is prohibited by law. It is scientifically recognized but also in local culture for its antioxidant properties, bone strengthening, osteoporosis protection, its usage in the cosmetics industry.
The natural surface of tea has been reduced with alarming rates especially during the last 10 years. Experts have for years been talking about the violent collectors, those who harvest off season, the livestock, and fire. All together have damaged more than 60% of the former natural surface of mountain tea.
According to the specialists the abuse in the past has also been linked to plant-gathering companies that for many years have agreed to harvest plants before the maturing season by prolonging the collection season in a dangerous way. With its increase in cultivation in some areas, the mountain tea has again begun to increase the export weight of medicinal plants. Only out of one parcel with over 25 workers on the Mali i Gjerë are harvested each day about 5 tons of mountain tea.