An interesting story comes from Vinkovci, where millions of kuna are (almost literally) scattered in forests around town.
Did you know you could make money solely by picking acorns off the ground? We’re talking about red oak acorns, whose redemption price currently stands at 8 kuna per kilo. In a county where 10.000 people are currently unemployed, it’s a bit surprising no one showed up armed with bags and enthusiasm, reported Dnevnik.hr on October 2, 2017.
Zvonimir Rukavina, the director of the Forest Office Otok, stated they have a need for 48 wagons of acorns – to be more precise, 480.000 kilos. Croatian Forests opened the season of acorn-harvesting by offering 8 kuna per kilo. Do the math, and you’ll be left with a mind-boggling sum of almost 4 million kuna that are to be found around a single town.
The price per kilo for red oak acorns has never been higher, but on first day of organised collecting, the forests around Vinkovci remained almost vacant. Croatian Forests offered 3 more kuna per kilo than last year, as they desperately need acorns to plant forests. Without acorns, there will be no new trees; without those, there will be no timber logging.
“It’s hard to speculate as it’s only the first day, but keeping in mind we only issued 6 permits in the Forest Office Otok, I’d dare say it won’t be that good”, said Rukavina.
The local population has always had a traditional close relation to the nearby forests and the wood industry. And yet, they’re now missing a chance to turn a considerable profit. A single person can collect up to 100 kilos of acorns a day – in five days, they can make 4000 kuna.
The collecting period will last for the next two or three weeks. “For people to be allowed to collect acorns, they need to visit the local forest office where they will get the permit, and they can contact the local forester who will direct them towards an area where they can find acorns”, concluded Rukavina.
