peaches

Leading figures from the Italian fresh produce business have called for stonefruit producers to push for closer ties with governments and retailers in order to safeguard the future of Europe's fresh peach and nectarine production and prevent a repeat of last year's disastrous campaign, when a combination of oversupply and lower consumption wrecked the prospects of several Mediterranean producers.

'The 2009 peach and nectarine campaign was a dramatic one, with prices at production slumping 50 per cent and prices for consumers dropping only by a few percentage points,' recalled Davide Vernocchi, fresh produce president of Fedagri. 'We need to act quickly in the coming weeks to avoid further crises for one of Italy's top domestic products.'

Mr Vernocchi was speaking at a meeting of the interprofessional organisation Ortofrutta Italia, which brings together around 20 groups from the production, sales, processing and distribution sectors.

Cristian Maretti, sector manager at Legacoop Agroalimentare, confirmed this year's Italian peach and nectarine crops would be 5 per cent and 9 per cent lower than last year respectively, but that quality was expected to remain 'optimal'.

However, he suggested that the current level of support on offer from the EU was not enough to provide Europe's stonefruit growers and suppliers with the support they required.

'The political scenario across the EU is not altogether favourable,' he said. 'In the past few weeks, proposals submitted to the European Commission by Italian, French and Spanish cooperatives aimed at preventing and managing future crises have not been accepted.'

He continued: 'We need to set out a strong, finalised deal to coordinate management of production from private firms and producer organisations. That way we can conclude a framework agreement between producers and distributors which safeguards product origin, payment periods, below-cost operations and contractual transparency.'

Meanwhile, the president of national farming organisation Confagricultura, Federico Vecchioni, has urged retailers to work more closely with producers in order to improve the prospects of a good marketing campaign for peaches and nectarines.

'I think we should try to build on the kind of agreement on peaches and nectarines carried out `last year` in Emilia-Romagna, between producers and retailers,' said Mr Vecchioni.

He also underlined the need to aggregate and consolidate supply. 'The reorganisation of producers is important. Competitiveness among producers and playing a more active role within the industry must be our main objectives.'

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