After a 10-year ban Slovenian farmers will once again be able to sow sugarbeets on their fields.
European sugar quotas will be removed this autumn. This year sugarbeets are to be planted on nearly 100 hectares of land.
Mirko Kosi, the president of the Kooperativa Kristal cooperative, which brings together growers of the crop, confirms that farmers will start growing sugarbeets this planting season. All the beets that will grow on Slovenia's soil will end up in the Viro sugar processing plant in Virovitica.
"We'll start off with around 100 hectares. We know that 10 years have passed and some farms have been restructured. Some will probably wait a bit and speculate," said Kosi.
The Croatian company is ready to buy much more produce than what's planned to be grown on Slovenia's fields, but the farmers have opted for gradual growth. The contract they have with the Croatian company is for one year only.
The farmers' wish is to gradually increase the size of surface used for production, which will then justify the building of a plant for processing sugarbeets in Slovenia.
Source: www.rtvslo.si