Slovak farmers have to realise that 60 percent of their sales can be ascribed to marketing, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Gabriela Matečná (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) told TASR press agency explaining the need to create a so-called marketing fund aimed at promoting domestic food products. "I still claim that Slovak farmers are able to produce but are unable to sell, although they are hardly willing to admit it. We wanted the fund to be launched in cooperation with local governments, processors and suppliers. We held a couple of roundtable discussions on the issue," said Matečná. However, the expectations of the other side were that the fund would be completely financed by the state. "The state can't finance everything, as food production is a business like any other. Farmers and processors must contribute to a fund like this. Joint contributing and joint decision-making based on the example of the Austrian marketing fund would enable us to gain higher support for domestic food. I believe that farmers will realise that they have to form sales associations in order to be able to negotiate better prices for themselves," said Matečná who isn't abandoning the idea of setting up a marketing fund.
