Malta: New EU rules for the fruit and vegetable sector
These estimates highlight the strategic importance of the fruit and vegetable sector for agriculture, for consumers, and for many different regions in the EU which have their jobs and growth generated by the fruit and vegetable sector. On the other hand, consistency in statistics linked to the fruit and vegetable chain in the EU, and published by the Statistical Office of the EU (Eurostat), show that in the 27 EU member states there are considerable differences in the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables available for human consumption, as well as significant variations in the price levels of fresh fruit and vegetables.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has recently been facing a number of major challenges – both at the European level and the global level. The financial and economic crisis has shown the need for competitive strength. The growing population and income in emerging and developing countries will add significantly to the demand for food in the coming decades. By 2050, the world’s population is expected to have reached about nine billion people and the demand for food to have increased by between 70% and 100%. The fruit and vegetable sector is part of the solution to these challenges regarding food security, poverty reduction, energy, water, climate change and stability. Therefore, the future CAP must strengthen the market orientation, competitiveness, innovation and sustainability in the agriculture sector. These elements together, make an important contribution to the Europe 2020 Strategy.
The EU dedicates part of the CAP to the fruit and vegetable sector. It supports producers and fruit and vegetable cooperatives through various measures. One of these measures is to help growers increase their competitiveness in the supply chain. The EU fruit and vegetable regime provides financial support to those who meet the EU criteria and methodology to become recognised as Producer Organisations (POs). Once POs become legal organisations through a formal recognition by the local Paying Agency – in the case of Malta, the Paying Agency within the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs (MRRA) – which operates the schemes, the PO members can then work together to obtain EU funding, namely to promote the use of environmentally-sound cultivation and waste practices, reduce production costs, improve the quality, marketing and end value of their produce and monitor their members to comply with EU marketing standards, maximum permitted levels of pesticide residues, and generally keep within plant health requirements.
Last June, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the future of the EU regime for fruit and vegetables. The consultation paper raises a range of issues, including: Strengthening competitiveness – in terms of productivity and capacity of finding new outlets for products; improving resilience of the sector, with regards to the ability of producers to adapt and react to unexpected developments and market crises; ensuring production sustainability and resource-efficiency; increasing the share of added value for producers in the fruit and vegetable supply chain, for instance by improving the bargaining power of producers; boosting consumption of fruit and vegetables (fresh and processed); controlling EU budget expenditure; and simplifying the management of the EU regime in the fruit and vegetable sector.
Meusac and MRRA will be organising a half-day consultation session on the future of the fruit and vegetable sector. The session will be held on Friday at the Bird Park in Salina. During the session, stakeholders will be informed on how the EU is actively supporting producer organisations and encouraging growers to benefit from EU financial aid. They will also have the opportunity to voice their opinion about the European Commission consultation on the future of EU fruit and vegetable rules. The responses will feed into a Commission report on the regime to be published next May. To register for this event send an email on [email protected] or call 2200-3300. Proceedings will be held in Maltese. Citizens, organisations and public authorities may also contribute to this consultation by logging onto:
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=FruitVegetables&lang=en by not later than 9 September 2012.