In the sectorial meeting the sector was informed about the content of Royal Decree-Law 5/2020, in relation to the modification of Law 12/2013 of the food chain. In particular, the sector has highly valued the inclusion of production costs in contracts signed by farmers, and has demanded equivalent initiatives for sales to other Member States.
Competitiveness and plan of measures
On the other hand, the result of the specific analysis of the competitiveness of the sweet fruit sector that the Ministry has carried out over the last months has been presented to the sector, in the framework of the Strategic Planning of the CAP, which has allowed to identify the structural weaknesses on which to work, both from the sector itself, and from agricultural policies. An analysis on which the sector representatives have stated that they agree on the diagnosis made by the Ministry.
The progress of the works derived from the Sweet Fruit Measures Plan, approved in 2018, has also been examined, which has included the approval of legislative modifications that expand the possibilities of activities of producer organizations in terms of plantation start-up, as well as the possibility of improving community financing of mutual funds created by Producer Organizations.
Likewise, the work carried out by the Ministry to provide sufficient information to the sector, which allows the adoption of measures to correct the imbalance between supply and demand, has been reported. In particular, the compilation of the information declared by each farmer throughout 2019 on surfaces, fruit varieties and planting years has been completed, which will help farmers in decision making. This information will be made public in the coming weeks.
Vertebration of the sector
The meeting also affected the insufficient backbone of the sector, which lacks the figure of the Interprofessional available to other sectors. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has appealed to sectoral representatives to resume negotiations that crystallize in its constitution. The invaluable work that, for example, in the field of consumption promotion could be carried out by an Interprofessional Organization of Bone Fruit has been revealed.
Lines of work
To meet the needs of the sector, concrete actions and lines of work have been agreed upon to develop from this moment.
On the one hand, we work to know the costs and margins of production and the price formation mechanism, which should serve to improve the conditions in the contracting, in accordance with the provisions of RD-Law 5 / 2020 The interest in initiating the work on price formation in the stone fruit sector has also been transferred, as well as in updating those of pome fruit, within the framework of the study of the Observatory of the Food Chain.
It has been agreed to modify the Royal Decree of funds and operational programs, to increase its effectiveness in the task of rebalancing supply and demand.
In the area of sectorial vertebration, the Ministry has advanced that throughout this year it will carry out a complete independent evaluation of the functioning of the organizations of fruit and vegetable producers and their associations. After this analysis, legislative proposals will be made to improve the functioning of these figures and maximize their potential.
The economic value of the sweet fruit sector in Spain, in terms of agricultural branch production, amounts to more than 3,000 million euros, after a 15% drop in 2019. Spain is the first European producer and exporter of fruit from bone, with an export value of more than 1,000 million euros.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Professional Agricultural Organizations, ASAJA, COAG and UPA, and Agricultural Cooperatives of Spain, as well as FEPEX and ANOVE.
