Thousands of mushroom pickers in central Bosnia look to the sky: If it doesn't rain, the season will be ruined

Thousands of mushroom pickers in central Bosnia have been looking to the sky for days, expecting rain that would save this year's season, writes the Patria news agency.

Although the harvest of morels provides families from the vicinity of Travnik, Bugojno, Vakuf, Vitez and other towns in central Bosnia with income for the entire year, and it is usually their only source of income, the real harvest of quality autumn morels has not yet begun, and if it doesn't rain soon - it won't happen, which would leave many pickers without money!

Professor Nezir Tanović from the Faculty of Agriculture in Mostar notes that Bosnia and Herzegovina exports about 40 million BAM of wild mushrooms and other forest fruits annually, but that this is only a tenth of the wealth that goes to waste in Bosnian forests every year.

However, the forest is an open-air factory whose operations cannot always be influenced by humans. For example, due to heavy rainfall that hit Bosnia and Herzegovina last year, mushroom pickers rated 2014 as the best season in the last ten years.

One picker earned between 60 and 70 BAM per day. Unfortunately, this year is not so promising, writes Patria.