Credit: Claudine Bosseler
On Tuesday 6 June 2023, the Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall has announced the official inauguration of the kierfchen.lu platform, an exchange and selling platform for local fruit.
This platform was designed for orchard and fruit tree owners but also for restaurants, local fruit producers and private individuals looking for local fruit. Fruit can be offered for free or sold on this platform, and there is also a possibility to look for harvest hands.
The orchard meadows (Luxembourgish: Bongerten) are a key feature of the Mullerthal region. They represent valuable and species-rich habitats in the Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall. Although they were the main fruit suppliers for Luxembourg until the 20th century, the share of fruit consumed today is much lower. Some possible reasons for this may have been the vegetation clearing bounties in the 1970s, the increased importation of plantation fruit, and declining profitability. This lead to a sharp decline in the number of tall-stem fruit trees in the national landscape, and the importance of the orchard dwindled.
According to Mullerthal’s Geopark, orchard fruits often go unused nowadays, despite being valuable, untreated and locally produced fruit. The online platform kierfchen.lu has thus been developed to make greater use of orchard fruits again and thus fight food waste.
This initiative solicits all actors active in the field of "Bongerten". Owners of meadow orchards, consumers, local producers, restaurants and beekeepers can come into contact with each other. Both supply and demand for fruit, activities, harvesting machines and much more can be viewed free of charge on an interactive map. The map covers the territory of the eleven member municipalities of Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall (Beaufort, Bech, Berdorf, Consdorf, Echternach, Fischbach, Heffingen, Larochette, Nommern, Rosport-Mompach, Waldbillig), the member municipality Reisdorf and the municipality in the Ernz Valley.
Anyone who owns or operates a meadow orchard in the Mullerthal region can offer fruit. Consumers and producers all over Luxembourg can seek out the fruits of Mullerthal and process them into dishes and drinks.
The increased use of fruit has many benefits. It promotes food with healthy fruits, the reduction of long transport distances, the preservation of orchards and the diversification of agricultural production, stressed the Geopark administration.
The "Kierfchen" platform was developed as part of the "Natura 2000 connects" project, managed by the Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall, a UNESCO Global Geopark since 13 April 2022.
