Croatia - the next big player in vegetable production?

With recent EU investments in agriculture and a vast unspoiled land, with huge reserves of water and human resources, Ivan Obrovac from Brana d.o.o., said that there is an enormous potential in Croatia. Brana Ltd starting producing in 2005, shortly after the company invested in ULO cold stores for fruits and vegetables, which was a boost to the area’s agriculture.

“There is a lot of investment in primary production in Croatia and I hope that it will be recognized in the near future and that the import/export balance of agricultural products will change considerably in favor of exports. The recent funds have become significantly more accessible to producers in the last year, mostly thanks to the Minister of Agriculture, Tomislav Tolušić, who brought the EU funds closer to farmers, which is why I think we will start seeing the results in the near future.,” said a hopeful Obrovac.

“Our main production is peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini, and in the winter, when these vegetables are out of season, we grown lettuce. We produce Batavia lettuce in our greenhouses, which has a total area of around 20.000 m2. We have also been busy testing for future production with a few different varieties of Batavia, such as Tonale and Fabela form Vilmorin, Carditie and Sumitie from Rijk Zwaan, AS16 from Bejo and few more,” shared Obrovac.

The company’s total plastic production is around 40.000 m2, and the plan is to raise an additional 50.000 m2, with approximately 8 ha of open field production.

“Our main market for lettuce is the Croatian domestic market, with some exports to neighboring country Slovenia. We have good demand with solid prices and we hope that the prices will increase once there is less lettuce on the market,” Obrovac continued.

“Even though we only have exports going to Slovenia at the moment, we are in final negotiations for a joint venture with Italian company Ortoromi. With Ortoromi’s experience and expertise, I believe that we will be successful in developing year round lettuce production and that the final products will be recognized in the European market.”
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