Heliciculture as a tool for rural development in Southern Transylvania

Abstract

In Romania there is no tradition as regards the consumption of snails. After several decades of land snails
populations’ exploitation for international trade, in the last decade the farming of edible snails has evolved in
Romania. The expansion of this practice was encouraged by the SAPARD Program and several foreign
companies, promising a quick and easily obtained benefit. About 650 snail farms were established in
Romania between the years 2004-2008, most of them using the Italian method, with Helix aspersa in
pastures. However, this method had proved its deficiency in the given environmental conditions, leading to
high mortality rates. An autochthonous method was developed using H. pomatia, applied by farmers
organized in a cooperative, and which have invested in their own processing factory in southern
Transylvania, aiming to obtain valuable biologic products. Both the individual farmers and the cooperative
were not able to sustain the losses registered during the first years, and find a market for their products, a
situation that lead to the collapse of heliciculture in Romania. Despite the unfortunate experience, this new
agricultural activity has the potential of a profitable practice in Romania, and especially in Transylvania, not
just due to the demand of the European market, but also to the climatic conditions, which make possible the
snail farming. Choosing the appropriate technology and species could allow the development of profitable
businesses in the rural areas, which could serve as alternative to the exploitation of Helix pomatia natural
populations.