Farmers dissatisfied with prices throwing out tomatoes

The price of tomato in the Leskovac marketplace dropped from 60 to only 10 to 20 dinars per kilogram in less than a week, which is why certain producers threw away this year’s harvest in protest. The representative of the agricultural association Zelena Zvezda from the village of Vinarce near Leskovac Nenad Antanasovic said to the media that the cause for such actions was the constant high offer and low demand in the market.

Nenad Budimovic, head of the Association of Agriculture, Food Industry, Forestry and Water Management at the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS), says for eKapija that the area on which tomato is grown in Serbia has been reduced by around 3.9% relative to last year.

- The average annual production in the last five years is around 169,000 tons, with an average yield of 18.3 tons per hectare. The annual import of tomatoes to Serbia is worth around USD 19 million, whereas the export is negligible and mostly directed to Montenegro and B&H, with around USD 2 million a year – Budimirovic says.

According to farmers’ data, the price of tomato production this year was 30 to 60 dinars, depending on the manner of cultivation.

- The current state of the local market is such that the importing has reduced significantly, since the offer from the local greenhouses is sufficient, and the yield from the open farms is expected soon, Budimirovic points out and adds that it is necessary to expand the areas and stimulate the growing of tomatoes inside enclosed spaces in order to reduce the import and provide sufficient amounts for the local market in the period to follow.

Unlike tomatoes, the prices of fruit have gone up. eKapija’s interviewee says that the bad weather conditions during May and June did a significant damage to orchards, which caused the current increase in prices of fruit.

- High humidity provided the perfect environment for the development of diseases in plants, which led to more spraying than usual, which of course increased the cost of production. The retail prices of fruit in May and June went up by up to 50% relative to last year. If the unstable weather period with a surplus of precipitation and the lack of sunlight necessary for the maturation continues, it is to be expected that fruit prices will remain as they are or even increase by a certain amount by the end of the period – Budimirovic concludes.

M.A.

ZZ Zelena zvezda Leskovac

Privredna komora Srbije

Udruženje za poljoprivredu, prehrambenu industriju, šumarstvo i vodoprivredu PKS

tomato

price of tomato

agricultural association Zelena Zvezda

Nenad Antanasovic

Nenad Budimovic

price of fruit