Beskydy 2014, 7, 39-46
Value of forest berries and mushrooms picking in Slovakia's forests
Non-wood forest products have important commercial, environmental, social and recreational roles in many European forests. Collecting wild foods from the forests now largely represents a form of recreation. In some countries, any revenues from the sale of wild food are exempted from income tax. The main objective of this work is to estimate the value of the selected forest berries and mushroom picking in Slovak forests. A random sample of 5,168 Slovak inhabitants was surveyed, with 1,534 interviews in 2006, 1,732 interviews in 2007, 1,402 interviews in 2008 and with 500 interviews in 2011. Face to face interviews were used and people were asked to answer prefilled questions. Based on the results of the survey, the most collected forest berry is blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), one third of respondents stated, that they picked them either for own consumption or for sale. Harvest activity in mushrooms picking is connected mainly with Boletus sp. They were picked by two-thirds of respondents for own consumption and by 2 % for sale. Mushrooms picking implies revenues of around 110–140 mil € annually. Levels of activity differed in each year. It can be influenced also by poorer crop in some years. In general, average price was higher in years with lower harvest.
