The year 2022 was an extremely challenging year for Slovak farmers. This was stated for TASR by Jana Holéciová, spokesperson of the Slovak Chamber of Agriculture and Food Industry (SPPK). She explained that in a very short time, agro-food producers had to face factors that they had not known before. The consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic were fading, and in February the war in Ukraine began with a huge global impact on food security and price developments. In 2022, therefore, according to her, most of the activities of SPPK were focused precisely on mitigating the effects of the mentioned factors on the business environment.
She emphasized that SPPK made an extraordinary effort during the negotiations with the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic on the setting of the new Common Agricultural Policy of the EU for the new programming period 2023 to 2027.
According to her, positive news for the agricultural department is a noticeable change in the financing of the agri-food sector from the state budget. Compensation for drought, increased financing of agricultural production and especially the food processing industry are the right path that the industry must take continuously, not just for one or two years, if it wants to mitigate the huge lead (price and investment) of European food producers. "Compared to other EU member countries, however, we continue to lag behind in the amount of support for the food industry and animal production. This supports our claim that higher state aid for the industry must be long-term," she underlined.
According to Holéciová, the low interest in working in the food industry and agriculture, the still persistent low self-sufficiency in the production of Slovak food, the persistent low share of Slovak food on the counters of chains and the very low share of Slovak food in catering establishments are also negative. The low level of support for agriculture and food production compared to neighboring countries significantly increases the price of Slovak food. "A challenging year is also characterized by the further course of climate change in our territory in terms of food production. The struggle of farmers for several months with the consequences of extreme drought has resulted in compensation for these extraordinary losses thanks to the Slovak Chamber of Agriculture and Food, which will be paid according to the promise of the departmental ministry before the end this calendar year," she noted.
(TASR)
