Crop means sour grapes for farmers
By : Juliet D. Golden
Roughly 700 fruit growers from central Poland last week staged a protest outside the Agriculture Ministry demanding government intervention to address the poor economic results from this year's harvest and to ensure the long-term viability of Poland's fruit-growing potential.
In contrast to last year's disastrous harvest caused by spring frosts, farmers' dire financial straits this year have more to do with bounty than blight. The combination of heavy rainfalls and sun has meant higher than average yields of soft fruits like strawberries, cherries and raspberries. The oversupply has led to a tumbling of market prices, which has many farmers calculating whether it's even worth getting their goods to market.
"It's a bumper-crop year, but prices are well below production costs," said Tadeusz Pietowski, president of the Mazovian Agricultural Chamber (ZSM).
Strawberry producers were particularly hard hit last month when market prices fell well below production costs. According to the Institute for Agricultural Economics (IERiGZ), the production price of one kilogram of strawberries is zl. 1.50. In contrast, the going rate for strawberries at market last month fell to zl. 0.80, said Zbigniew Przybyszewski, president of the Mazovian fruit growers trade union.
"We shouldn't be selling anything below zl. 1.50 per kilo, because that's below production costs," Przybyszewski said.
Poland is a significant world strawberry producer and exporter. With annual production of roughly 170,000 tonnes, last year Poland ranked No. 5 in worldwide strawberry production, according to the Foreign Agriculture Markets Monitoring Unit (FAMMU/FAPA).
With strawberry season on the wane, sour cherry growers are now facing hard times. Production costs are estimated at zl. 1 per kilogram, but their market price is zl. 0.60, Przybyszewski said.
Poland is the largest sour cherry producer in the world, with an annual production of roughly 122,000 tonnes, according to FAMMU/FAPA. However, in terms of exports, Poland ranks second behind Hungary, which in 1998 exported 22,500 tonnes. That year Poland exported 20,500 tonnes.
Apple producers are also expecting a bumper crop this year, but they are gearing up for the worst as far as returns. Since 1996 apple production has fallen from just under 2 million tonnes to roughly 1.3 million tonnes annually. According to FAMMU/FAPA, Poland ranks No. 4 in Europe in terms of annual apple production and No. 5 in exports.
"If for the next three years we are going to sell goods at half the cost of production, in three years we will go bankrupt," Przybyszewski said.
For their part, officials at the Agriculture Ministry have promised to set a date this week to discuss the future of the fruit growing industry.
In particular, farmers want government assistance to help foster the development of producers groups, which would facilitate cooperation in production, obtaining supplies and getting their goods to market.
Despite the introduction of a producers group law this year, according to Przybyszewski the legislation has done little to improve the economic situation of farmers.
"The law is far from perfect," Przybyszewski said.
One drawback to the law is that it imposes greater tax burdens on farmers who join producers groups. Once in such a group, farmers are faced with making exact product inventories and paying income tax, something they are exempt from as individual farmers, Przybyszewski said.
