Croatian strawberry farmers staged a protest on Monday in Zagreb to warn that retail chains are unwilling to buy their fruit as it is cheaper for them to import strawberries from other countries, even during the peak picking season when strawberries are plentiful.

Gathered in front of the Arena shopping mall in Zagreb, the farmers decided to raise awareness of the problem by giving away their produce to passers by for free.

“Even during the picking season (from late May to September) we still get strawberries imported from other countries which are sold to customers at prices we cannot match. At Plodine (retail chain), they had a discount offer selling strawberries for 8.99 kuna (€1.2) per box. The realistic price is what we sell them for, which is 12 kuna per box (€1.6),” said Marijan Herceg, head of the City of Zagreb Association of Strawberry Farmers.

Herceg said that although they were not entirely against imports, they were opposed to imports during the picking season. Strawberry farmers also called for shops to clearly indicate to customers which strawberries on offer have been locally grown, and which ones came from imports, 24sata daily reported on Monday

They said that the main problem they faced was cheap imports, and added that protectionism at shopping malls is not what they are after.

“Retail price of first class strawberries simply cannot be 8.99 per box, because that’s below any sustainable level. And we (as farmers) just sell strawberries, we don’t offer toilet paper or all sorts of other stuff that might help us cover those losses. The price cannot be 8.99 kuna, that’s just not realistic. We are not asking for any special treatment, all we want is a level playing field,” Herceg said.

(€1 = 7.38 kuna)

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