Sheqeras

Sheqeras
Village
Interactive map of Sheqeras
Coordinates: 40.744182°N 20.772524°E / 40.744182; 20.772524
Country	Albania
County	Korçë
Municipality	Maliq
Administrative unit	Vreshtas
Elevation	818 m (2,684 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,500 to 3,000
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Area code	(0) 82

Sheqeras (Albanian definite form: Sheqerasi) is a village in Korçë County, southeastern Albania. It was part of the former Vreshtas municipal unit. At the 2015 local government reform, it became part of the municipality Maliq.

History

Sheqeras lies approximately 22 km from the city of Korçë. The village was established as a residential settlement following the drainage of the Maliq MarshIn 1947 (before that, this area was used by local villagers for gathering raw materials and fishing). The area is also known as the former Maliq Marsh. The name of the village, Sheqeras, comes from the large-scale cultivation of sugar beets in this area during the 1950s, particularly around 1957, which were processed at the Sugar Factory Maliq.

Geography

Sheqeras is located in the center of the Korçë Plain, at an elevation of approximately 800–850 meters above sea level. The area falls within the hilly and mountainous Mediterranean climate zone, specifically the southeastern foothill region. According to data from the Sheqeras weather station, the average temperature in August, the warmest month, is 18.3°C, while the average temperature in January, the coldest month, is 0°C. In January 1987, a temperature of −26.8°C was recorded in the village, which remains the absolute minimum temperature ever recorded there This is also the lowest temperature ever recorded in the entire country. At the Sheqeras weather station, the highest amount of sunshine is recorded in July, with 334.1 hours, while the lowest is recorded in December, with 91.8 hours.

The village of Sheqeras receives a considerable amount of solar radiation, with approximately 2,390 hours of sunshine per year, which is about 83 hours more than the average for the Korçë region.

Economy

Agriculture and livestock farming are the main pillars of the economy of the village of Sheqeras

Demographics

The village is mostly Muslim and has 2 Orthodox families.

Environmental problems

In the territory of Sheqeras there are significant areas of peat soils in the Maliq plain, which represent the largest surface of this type in Albania. Burning of plots after harvest and the self-combustion of peat have severely damaged the land, causing ground subsidence and frequent flooding during wet seasons. As a result, some plots have turned into marshland, while over 1,000 hectares of agricultural land can no longer be used for cultivation. This has directly affected the livelihoods of local farmers and the agricultural development of Sheqeras.