Looking at information received from farmers about the impact from spring frosts and the state of fruit and berry gardens, the losses reach approximately EUR 10 million, as reported by representatives of the Latvian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives (LLKA).
The organisation’s representatives say that in the current situation the fruit sector needs support from the state, because lost revenue from the harvest will have long-reaching consequences for the entire sector’s development.
LPKS BIO Berries Latvija board chairman Gundars Kārkliņš said after the meeting that
if they fail to prepare for next year’s harvest, local and foreign customers will be the ones who will lose the most.
“It is necessary to invest into field recovery. Investments reach several thousand euros per 1 ha. What’s more, the consequences will be long-lasting, because several years may pass until we can recover Latvia’s lost market share,” said Kārkliņš.
LLKA director general Rolands Feldmanis stressed that the response speed from the Ministry of Agriculture in allocating state support will be decisive when it comes to the speed of the agriculture sector’s recovery.
“The future of Latvia fruits and berries is in processing as well, but in order to develop it it is first necessary to recover this year’s losses and increase production volumes in order
in order, first of all, to increase the sales market in the Latvian and export markets, but in the future fruit and berry cooperatives could develop competitive processing plants,” said Feldmanis.
Currently there are eight fruit and vegetable producing cooperatives in Latvia. They unite 150 fruit, berry and vegetable producers.
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