ZAGREB, 10 Dec (Hina) – Land availability, market organisation and heavy imports are the biggest challenges facing Croatia’s vegetable sector, along with a growing labour shortage, speakers said on Wednesday at the opening of the Croatian Vegetables conference organised by Gospodarski List newspaper.
Vjekoslav Budanec, president of the Croatian Vegetable Growers’ Association, warned that growers do not have priority in the allocation of state-owned land and face additional issues, including a shrinking workforce and poor market organisation. He said producers need to join forces to secure better prices and sales conditions.
Zdravko Tušek, state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said vegetables in Croatia are grown on just over 9,000 hectares, with annual production of around 230,000 tonnes, of which 180,000 tonnes reach the market.
He noted that the sector is under pressure from market disruptions caused by global crises. More than 2,400 vegetable-sector projects were financed under the previous rural development programme, and a new tender under the strategic plan to support fruit and vegetable production is being finalised.
Vegetable production in Croatia accounts for about 0.3% of total EU output but is highly significant domestically. Tušek said Croatia is 48% self-sufficient, meaning more than half of its vegetables must be imported, and stressed the need to encourage young and new farmers to enter the sector.
