Slovenian farmers and co-operatives are being urged to join fruit and vegetable grower organisations in order to be eligible for EU funding and to boost competition.
The Association of Co-operatives (ZZS) has said that farmers should either join one of the two existing organisations or start their own to qualify for European aid, which will be available until 2013.
It said this would help cut distribution costs, balance production with demand and enable pooled sales.
Backing the idea, the Farmers Association (SKZ) said that Slovenia joined the EU unprepared for agriculture. It suggested that the co-operatives should also start working directly with the Slovenian Agricultural Ministry to overcome poor organisation within the sector.
Figures from ZZS show that its fruit and vegetable growers produced 31,728 tonnes of fruits and 8,166t of vegetables in 2004, and the country’s annual consumption of fruit and vegetables amounts to around 40,000t.
