March 14 2006, 11:47

Poltava farmers are reluctant to contract vegetable supplies this season

According to the information of Poltava oblast processing enterprises, the contracts are signed by significantly slower rates compared to the previous 2005 year. Past year high prices on raw materials (especially cucumber) were observed, so this year the producers do not hurry to sign contracts and have extra, to their opinion, responsibilities. Yuri Konyaev, the Market Information Specialist of Poltava office, Agricultural Marketing Project provided "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly journal. Rather high contract prices offered by the plants do not encourage farmers. The processors, in their turn, should start worrying as different sources inform about 2-2.5 less contracted volumes of raw materials compared to March 2005.

Oleg Smolka, the specialist of Poltava AMP office, comments the situation: "The situation is controversial. On the one hand, the farmers - owners of large cucumber acreage will not decrease production; they even plan to extend acreage a little. On the other hand, small producers prefer to give up this crop production, as they have had a negative experience during recent two years". It is worth mentioning that processing enterprises get 75-80% raw materials exactly from small farms and houseplots. If small producers give up cucumber production, it can affect the raw material base of the enterprises much. At the same time, high prices of season 2005 can push new producers to grow cucumbers, Oleg Smolka says.