Brussels, Nov 7 - Europe's farm chief wants to scrap many of the subsidies paid to the EU's fruit and vegetable industry as part of a sweeping plan to streamline a sector that accounts for nearly a fifth of the bloc's agricultural output.
EU subsidies for processing fruit and vegetables, as well as export subsidies, would be abolished, according to a draft plan obtained by Reuters. Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel's plan is due to be published in January, after which it will be debated by EU farm ministers.
Production aids would be decoupled -- EU jargon for breaking the link between how much a farmer produces and the amount of subsidy received. In future, that cash would be calculated by area based on payments made during a historical reference period.
"The proposal sets out the integration of the fruit and vegetables (regime) into the single payment scheme," the document said, referring to the streamlined farm subsidy system agreed as part of the EU's mammoth agriculture reform in 2003.
Then EU agriculture ministers also set down the principle that to receive decoupled payments, farmers also had to adhere to a set of EU laws to preserve and enhance the environment.
The draft reform plan also ays that farmers who get these new-style production payments must devote at least 20 percent of them to projects to enhance or preserve the environment.
The EU is a major player in world horticulture, with wide variations in the types of products grown, and the plan would also extend the regime to include culinary herbs.
At present, annual subsidies for the sector amount to about 1.5 billion euros ($1.91 billion), of which around two-thirds goes on production and processing subsidies.
The sector accounts for 17 percent of the EU-25's total agricultural production although in some EU countries, fruit and vegetables account for more than a quarter of farm output.
For Greece, Spain and Portugal the sector represents at least 30 percent of agricultural production.
PERISHABLE PRODUCE
The reform blueprint contains several proposals for streamlining producer organisations (POs), the cornerstone of EU policy aand direct recipient of subsidies to fund marketing operations on behalf of smaller farmers.
One of the main changes is to alter the way POs receive EU cash to withdraw perishable produce from the market if it is not selling well. Most withdrawals now qualify for 100 percent financing from Brussels, but that will be cut to 50 percent.
But if those products are earmarked for free distribution, the EU will continue to pay all the cost, the document said, as part of the Commission's drive to promote healthy eating.
"Market withdrawals, which are 100 percent EU co-financed, can be distributed for free not only to charitable organisations and foundations but also to schools and public education institutions and children's holiday camps," it said.