The key of success in the history of Croatia’s chamomile story lies in our technology and know-how coupled with our dedication to quality
Croatia has long been one of the most important growers and processors of chamomile in the world, although unfairly neglected in the science literature and various publications which recite obsolete data. Croatia is currently, alongside Egypt – the biggest producer of chamomile in the world!
Official data from 2020 provided by the Agency for subsidies in agriculture show that chamomile was grown on 5543 ha, while in record years of 2017 and 2018, it was grown on 7000 ha! The cultivation and processing are so perfected here, that wild cultivation was completely displaced and is long gone. Manual harvest as well, which was common in many other parts of the world not so long ago. In many other countries where production relied or still relies on wild collection – industry is struggling with work force shortages leading to drop in yearly quantities.
Croatia is Europe’s largest producer of highest quality German chamomile
In Croatia, climate is very favourable – offering many insolation hours with temperatures over 20°C ensuring very good oil quality and quantity. The loess soil common in this region is great foundation for perfect chamomillae flos, a raw material for pharmaceutical or cosmetic uses, as well as tea/infusions industry.
The cultivation is built around very successful model of domestic processors and growers’ cooperation. Stable growth of areas can be observed since the 90s. Processors ensure purchase with known prices, while having great capacities for drying and processing. Farmers and technology professionals were familiar with the drying technology from previous experiences.
The heart of chamomile cultivation lies near Virovitica (Virovitičko-podravska county), a region in close proximity to our company – where 5 out of 10 largest individual medicinal herb growers in Croatia are situated! There are also many more significant growers in the range
Harvesting chamomile with KVH series harvester
You may ask what is the key to this stunning successful story?
The key aspect which enabled such a rapid expansion is world’s unique technology that our processors hold, which was discovered, synthesized, built and provided by HERBAS d.o.o. in cooperation with them! HERBAS is especially proud that we built first chamomile-dedicated processing line in the world for large scale production!
From the very beginnings we were involved in research and development together with our processors and growers, providing them with equipment that ensured their place at the top of the world for almost two decades!
Such an embracement of technology in Croatia has streamlined production, increased profits and enabled growing on large areas. The high ability to process for added value resulted in solidifying the “infrastructure”. Despite the tectonic changes in agriculture and work intensive nature of traditional chamomile production, Croatian production stayed competitive and has grown to be one of the most successful stories of Croatian agricultural sector. The exceptional quality of the flowers and pulvis ensured the placement on the market.
Table 1. Cultivation areas in Croatia – Chamomile
Table 2. Cultivation area in some countries – Chamomile
The average Croatian grower has around 11,5 hectares!
The Croatia’s chamomile production is very interesting to the foreign market, because most of it is grown organically following Good agricultural practices (GAP), which is backed up by various certificates. Intended final use is for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and herbal infusiones industry. The quality and content of organic chamomile is strictly monitored by independent institutions, ensuring only top-quality raw materials without any traces of harmful residues are approved.
Over 90-95 % of Croatian produced dried chamomile flower is exported. Most of it goes to EU member countries like Germany, Italy, the UK, France, Spain, Switzerland, Slovenia, but also Japan, Australia, USA, Kenia, Taiwan, Israel.
State-of-the-art chamomile line for completely automatized process, high extraction rates and cleanly separated products
HERBAS can provide you with complete equipment, enabling you access to the best chamomile technology in the world! These include: improved tractor-pulled harvesters of KVH-EH series with bunker or belt conveyor, the HKS series universal floor and portable container dryers and – completely automatized processing lines of large throughputs and high yield flower extraction and separation. For smaller producers as well, we offer compact processing solutions that can provide new capabilities!
The highlight of HERBAS chamomile portfolio is our NEW chamomile processing line built for productions of + 200 ha, but can support up to a + 1000 ha! This leaves much room for expansion.
Many processors using other approaches and technologies find it difficult to cope with large scale production, as their processing capability proves to be the bottleneck that is holding them down.
Final products – flower heads, extra pulvis, herbal pulvis
With + 200 ha because it pays itself off from savings given the high degree of automatization and high value end product.
Contact us today if you are looking to improve and upscale your chamomile production with the best equipment available on the market!
[1] Y.E. Ghareeb, S.S. Soliman, T.A.Ismail et al.: Improvement of German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) for Mechanical Harvesting, High Flower Yield and Essential Oil Content Using Physical and Chemical Mutagenesis, MDPI, 2022.
[2] Agroinform.hu, https://www.agroinform.hu/kerteszet_szoleszet/gyogynovenyek-homoktovis-csipkebogyo-orbancfu-kamilla-cickafark-49222-001, 2021
[3] Böszörményi Andrea: Gyógynövények gyűjtése, termesztése, nemesítése, feldogozása, minősítése – Semmelweis Egyetem, Farmakognóziai Intézet, 2017
[4] Chamomile in Republic of Serbia, Brdar-Jukanović et al., source repository: FiVeR, 2019.
[5] H. Brabandt, D. Ehlert: Chamomile harvesters: A review, 2011
[6]
[7] Marché des plantes à parfum, aromatiques et médicinales, Panorama 2020, Établissement national des produits de l’agriculture et de la mer, 2020
[8] D. Ehlert et al.: Influence of comb parameters on picking properties for chamomile flowers (Matricaria recutita), 2011
[9] Dario Macaluso et al., Farming of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Italy: Structural Features and Economic Results, source: MDPI, 2023