Despite dozens of citizens being fined, for picking walnuts from the edges of the street last week, the practice still continues.

"We do not know yet our income, it will all depend on the price. It's such hard work collecting them, we must make sure that the nuts don't blacken, otherwise the price will not be the same."

"Other came and picked the walnuts before us. We only want a few, to eat home ourselves."

"You can see that they already started peeling. Shake the tree a bit and they will fall down."

"They are peeled with a knife. If we come late there will be nothing left, as others would have taken everything already."

Farmers claim that walnuts can only be harvested after the first few leafs fall off, otherwise it creates the risk of the tree drying out.

"The poor trees fades away because of those barbarians. It would be the same for the tree if i decided to come with an ax and cut off its branches one by one." farmer  Nicolae Kiktenko declared.

Ecology inspectors claim that often, when collecting walnuts, those people rip not only leafs, but also branches. Until now 25 fines of 300 lei each were handed.

"Such acts, when the nuts are collected improperly, in one, two, maybe even three years will dry the walnut trees." chief of State Ecological Inspectorate of Moldova, Vadim Stângaci stated.

Representatives from State Road Administration say that walnuts are place at the edges of roads in order to act as a shield against dust and blizzards, their fruits are not fit for consumption.

"The transport that passes by will always eliminate gas that would get stuck to the fruits and consequently slowly poison the person consuming them" deputy chief of State Road Administration,Ion Drucec confirmed.

"People ate walnuts collected from the edges of roads for over 25 years and nobody has died so far" 

Last year the price of a kilogram of walnuts amounted to 150 lei.