Organic food in Slovakia

Although the term „organic farming“ was introduced as far back as in 1939 by the English, Lord Northbourne, this type of farming is now also developing in Slovakia to such an extent that, in some aspects, our country has surpassed the „country of origin“. Slovakia started to introduce organic farming (OF) relatively late and the advancement of the Slovak organic food market itself has been rather slow. Nevertheless, as far as the organic cultivation of land is concerned, Slovakia cultivates nearly twice as much as Great Britain.

More than 122,000 hectares of land were cultivated within the organic farming system in Slovakia in 2007, which constitutes as much as 6.14 per cent of the country's total agricultural land. This acreage increased in 2008 to the current 137,000 hectares, which represents more than 7 per cent of the total agricultural land fund and a year-on-year increase by 12 per cent. For a comparison, in Great Britain there are 682,000 hectares of land (January 2008) being cultivated using the OF system comprising. However, that is a mere 3.9 per cent of the total agricultural acreage. Hence, Slovakia utilises its agricultural land or organic farming with twice the intensity of the UK.

A positive trend has been set not only in terms of the total acreage but also in the number of organic farms in Slovakia. As of the end of 2008, the number of organic farms grew by 69 to 349 (+25%) compared to 2007. There are as many as 5,506 of such farms in Great Britain but this huge number is relativised by a lower average acreage per farm. Whereas a Slovak farm spreads over an average of 389 hectares, a British one manages with only 124 hectares.

From the structural point of view, Slovak farmers are mostly concerned with vegetable production, with the dominating produce being wheat, barley, oats, spelt, sunflower, peas, herbs and some fruits and vegetables (e.g. asparagus).

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The Vicious Circle of the Slovak Market
Although Slovakia can boast about its intensive organic farming, most of the produce is exported abroad to be processed and then reimported as finished organic products. This increases their price and decreases their marketability in Slovakia.
There are several reasons behind the relatively small organic food market and low demand in Slovakia. The most significant of these clearly being their high price versus the population's pur­chasing power. As the price of organic food products is 50 or more percent higher than that of conventional food, in which this behaviour of the extremely price-aware Slovak consumers comes as no surprise.
Limited distribution is another impediment to domestic sales. While neighbouring countries can avail of an ever-increasing „courtyard sale“ system, in Slovakia it has been impossible until just recently to buy organic food directly from its producers and, therefore, at a favourable price. The Ministry of Agriculture introduced this option recently (as part of its effort to curb the current economic crisis), which could give impetus to the sales of small-scale family farms and improve the accessibility of organic food to Slovak consumers.
While in 2004, ca. 95% of all Slovak produce was sold abroad, this share fell to 85% in 2008, according to a survey by Green Marketing, thanks to the increased interest of Slovak food processors in the production of organic food products as well as of the end customers of the products themselves. However, the trend that animal and vegetable primary production is processed outside of Slovakia still persists.

Last but not least, domestic consumption is anything but reinforced by the fact that neither the government nor private entities put forth much effort to promote the „Product of Organic Farming“ label.

The Future
We expect this positive trend in organic farming to continue in the coming years. The number of organic primary producers as well as of the processors of animal and vegetable organic products is expected to rise from 2009–2011. In January 2009 alone, 33 new applications for inclusion in the OF system were received. A CSEE association survey has also shown that Slovak organic producers expect to see 25% to 30% growth in the sales of organic products and food, and are adjusting their production accordingly. One reason for this is that the majority of produce still goes to foreign markets where the demand for organic food has been growing steadily and significnantly for a long time now, in turn adding to the optimism of Slovak producers.
Nevertheless, Slovak demand is slowly waking up, though so far it has been limited to Bratislava and its surroundings where the standard of living is above the EU average. In 2008, organic consumers could buy their organic food at more than 90 retail shops selling health food products, 27 of which were located in the capital itself.

Author: Helena Proková Mališová, Viktor Prímus

This article was written in collaboration with the portal ekologika.sk.

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