Latvia: domestic vegetables will become delicacies

Warsaw - As chairman of the administration of the Latvian food company Spilva, Lolita Bemkhena in her commentary for the Latvian newspaper Lietišķā Diena expressed the opinion that in the future Latvian vegetables and fruits, both fresh and processed, will become delicacies. According to Bemkhena, Latvia cannot produce cheap agricultural products in such volumes as in the other countries, because of climate (comparing with countries where several harvests per year can be gathered) and delays in agriculture development (comparing with Western agriculture).

Bemkhena wrote that Latvian agriculture continues to die out. Of course Latvians emotionally prefer locally grown vegetables and fruits, but some kinds of them are already impossible to buy in the country. Good examples are green peas, sorrel, horseradish and cucumbers reports Bemkhena, relying on the experience of her company, which specializes in the production of canned foods and seasonings. In case of above mentioned vegetables, the prices of the local production were tripled in the last period, and as a result they already imperil the competitive ability of the local processed products.

Nevertheless, important agricultural enterprises will not remain without the market for sale. Bemkhena is also astonished by a changes of the official position of the Latvian government: “they did everything recently - developed programs, paid the millionth compensation from the state budget, etc. in order to develop agriculture. Now they decided to rush into the rural tourism”. At the same time, she assumes that the country must produce so many fruits and vegetables in order to satisfy domestic demand.

Publication date: February 28 2007
Author: FreshPlaza Correspondent Poland
Copyright: www.freshplaza.com