Brussels, 26/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The degree of organisation of producers in the fruit and vegetables sector varies greatly between the countries of the EU and the currently underused crisis management and prevention instruments need to be improved: it was in these terms that Dacian Ciolos, the European commissioner for agriculture, presented the Agriculture Council of Monday 24 March with the conclusions of the report (published in early March 2014) on the fruit and vegetable sector. This report pays particular attention to the organisation of this sector and the functioning of tools, such as operational funds.
Ciolos described the challenges faced by this sector (drop in consumption of fruit and vegetables in the EU, unequal balance of power within the sector in most EU countries, crisis prevention).
The report aims to answer the following questions: Are the current instruments, particularly the operational programmes of the producer organisations, effective? - How can the regime really help to improve the competitiveness of producers and prevent crisis management?
Ciolos announced positive developments at Union level: - the rate of organisation of the fruit and vegetables sector has risen from 37.2% in 2007 to an EU average of 43% in 2010; - the percentage of fruit and vegetable producers who are members of producer organisations (POs) has risen from 13.6% in 2007 to 16.5% in 2010; - the number of POs which are members of associations of producer organisations has risen from 164 in 2007 to 459 in 2010.
“However, problems persist and shortcomings have gone unanswered”, the Commissioner acknowledged: - 1) a standard degree of organisation (producers who are members of a PO) between member states. Many countries have an absence or a low degree of organisation (in 2010, for example, there were organisation rates in excess of 85% in the Netherlands and Belgium, but less than 3% in Romania and Bulgaria). Ciolos highlighted the risk of a two-speed Europe (major imbalances between countries and regions as to the degree of organisation). The absence of organisation reinforces the problem of the poor negotiating power of producers in the supply chain, exposing them even more to the risks of economic and climate uncertainty, a source close to Ciolos explained; 2) in several EU countries, the evaluation of national strategies and the operational programmes has flagged up shortcomings on issues, such as the attractiveness of the producer organisations, the development of the commercial value of the products, improving production costs and stabilising production costs; 3) very low take-up of crisis prevention and management instruments shows the “limitations” of certain existing instruments. “There is therefore cause to improve the crisis prevention and management instruments”, states Ciolos; 4) in most countries of the EU, expenditure and strategic measures (research and experimental production) continue to be negligible.
The Commission explains that the introduction of any new measures in favour of the fruit and vegetable sector should be done “using constant financial resources, in order to guarantee budgetary neutrality in the framework of the market measures”. The Commission may present legislative proposals at a later date, aiming to modify the Union regime of aid to the fruit and vegetables sector. ( LC)