OREANDA-NEWS. On July 01, 2008 a kind of a "bilberries' harvest" kicked off in forests of the Volyn region (West Ukraine), villagers started mass gathering of bilberries. Annually, a considerable part of those vitaminous berries are exported to CIS and West European countries, reported the Official website www.kmu.gov.ua.

Gathering and storing up of bilberries is commercialized. The number of gathering centers exceeds several hundreds each year. The state forestry determines limits of bilberries gathering, and special certificates are issued to gatherers. The state forest service supervises over gathering so that there were no violations, and in 2007 work of about 40 gathering centers that were working secretly was stopped.

The Volyn forests, occupying one third of the region's territory, are rich in bilberries in 2008. By preliminary data of specialists, properly organized gathering of bilberries may give not less than UAH 2-3 million (about USD 400-600) to the State Budget.