NIK: Polish farmers planted trees to gain EU funding

Some 14,500 Polish farmers have benefited from subsidies for organic fruit orchards over the past decade.

The NIK report found that although the area of land allocated to this type of cultivation increased eightfold over that period, yields fell from 15 tons to just one ton of fruit per hectare.

NIK wrote in the report, “Although over 10 years more than PLN 708 million (EUR 176 million) was given in subsidies for organic fruit farming, the production of fruit did not rise; farmers planted trees to gain EU subsidies, not to harvest the fruit.”

NIK concluded that the main issue was the lack of obligation to produce output once subsidies were granted. This was only changed in 2014, and since then subsidies have been dependent on output.

Of 20 farms which have received subsidies investigated by NIK, 9 have never produced any output. 13 of the 20 farms withdrew from the organic fruit orchard sector as soon as the subsidies ended.

NIK also pointed out that many of the orchards were poorly maintained: planted on poor soil or in areas vulnerable to wild animals.

Misleading focus on output?

However, in response to the report Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki pointed out that this kind of farming can take four or five years before yielding output, and possibly even longer, so the output figures may have been misleading.

His Ministry commented in a statement that, “The idea behind ecological farming is that we do not look at the volume of production, but at its quality. The environmental aspect is also important.”

The Ministry also added, “the payment of subsidies in this area are subject to EU regulation; EU audit institutions did not have any concerns over the way in which these payments were made.” (sl/rg)

Source: PAP