Support for Croatian production and domestic producers has always been Konzum’s priority, and this is best confirmed by the fact that around eighty percent of the fruit and vegetables sold by the company are of Croatian origin.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of April, 2020, at the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Konzum itself, which offered small producers and OPGs Konzum’s shelves to sell their products instead of the now closed markets, as many as 200 new small producers came forward and in the very first with of cooperation with Konzum, 70,000 pieces of lettuce, 18,000 kg of chard, 5,000 kg of parsley and 1,300 kg of young onions were purchased. New suppliers have also joined the group of over 4000 farmers and OPGs with whom Konzum is already working.
The heavily frequented store expects that the quantities purchased from small producers will continue to grow further in the coming period. As the season of local strawberries approaches, Konzum is already in contact with producers from all parts of Croatia to make their products available to be sold.
These are the first concrete results of the project on which Konzum embarked based on the decision by the Civil Protection Staff of the Republic of Croatia on a measure to suspend the operation of marketplaces, to make sure people are still able to buy those same products they’d usually buy at markets, but in Konzum instead.
Within the Fortenova group, placement through Konzum is being handled through PIK Vinkovci, a distributor that purchases products from small agricultural producers, provided they meet the highest quality standards. Therefore, all small farms in Croatia interested in marketing their production to Konzum should contact PIK Vinkovci via this email address: [email protected].
PIK Vinkovci is a specialist in the purchase of fruit and vegetables, since they buy more than 20,000 tons of fruit and vegetables per year and have an extremely good level of cooperation with more than 500 subcontractors. Croatian farmers can also contact Konzum’s Marinad and Fragaria partners, who also buy and deliver to Konzum, with the highest quality standards guaranteed.
“In this way, we want to increase that number of 4,000 producers from all parts of Croatia that we partner with, and at the same time help primarily small family farmers and farms that are prevented from selling their products due to the closure of the markets. We’ll continue to be a strong partner in domestic agriculture, helping to further strengthen it, and constantly look for new models to continue our mission of preserving the tradition of local production and increasing the number of small producers, and providing them with the quality marketing of their products through a wide sales network,” said Zoran Mitreski, a member of Konzum’s administration.
Fruit and vegetable growers who applied to the company’s “Best from Croatia” (Najbolje iz Hrvatske) tender after they have agreed to cooperate with the aforementioned distributors may also be included in this initiative.
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