Sowing the seeds of a healthy market

Lack of a common voice and growing competition from outside the EU are among the key challenges faced by the bloc's fruit and vegetable producers. In order to bring the sector closer into line with the reformed Common Agricultural Policy, the European Commission (EC) has proposed a set of reforms to the Common Market Organization for fruit and vegetables.

These reforms aim to simplify administrative procedures in order to stimulate the development of Producers' Organisations (POs). To ensure price stability, the reforms will include the sector in the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) and initiate new regulations concerning crisis management. These will target price fluctuations and difficulties to which agriculture is particularly prone due to the short lifespan of products and dependence on the weather.

Another goal is to improve environmental protection, and producers will be required to spend 20 percent of each new investment on ensuring this, if they want to continue receiving subsidies. The reforms also aim to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables in the EU, especially among children, by granting 60-percent subsidies for youth-targeted products.

"The reforms are a great chance for Polish producers," said Jerzy Plewa, Deputy Director General for Agriculture and Rural Development in the EC. Poland is Europe's fourth-largest producer of fruit and its top producer of apples. However, the participation of POs on the market is one of the lowest in the EU, accounting for just 10 percent of total domestic production.

The reforms are expected to begin coming into effect in 2008.