2454 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime: Final Report
DG SANCO Evaluation Framework Contract Lot 3 (Food Chain)
England on sales of seed potatoes from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has been
estimated at £10.68 million per year 200 .
The improvement of the situation has also kept far more agricultural land in production than
would otherwise have been the case. This type of business is undertaken by a large number of
holdings in the EU and is of high economic importance in several MS, as illustrated by the
following statistics:
The number of agricultural holdings cultivating potatoes amounts to 25% on average
and much more in several of the EU 12 MS (85% in LT, 80% in LV, 66% in SL, 59% in
EE and 55% in PL) (Eurostat – 2005);
The production of seed potatoes, of high value, is mainly concentrated in 4 MS,
representing 68% of the cultivated acreage (32% in NL, 15% in DE, 13% in FR and
12% in UK) (Nederlandse Aardappel Organisatie (NAO) – 2007);
The EU-5 ‗potato‘ zone comprising the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and
Northern France can be considered as the most efficient and integrated area in the EU‘s
potato business. Here, yields are significantly above the EU-25 average and local
traders now shape if not control commercial relations all over the EU. Not only are
price series in the EU-5 countries soundly correlated but they also have a strong impact
on the overall tendencies recorded at EU level. In this EU 5 –zone, there is a virtuous
circle, whereby the competitiveness of the agricultural activity reinforces the position of
manufacturers and vice versa;
The EU potato industry is very competitive and is continuously gaining market share,
both within the EU as well as in the most dynamic marketplaces worldwide. On a world
scale, EU businesses are especially competitive in the segment of seed potatoes, where a
few Dutch companies are global leaders, and of processed products. World demand for
seed potatoes and processed products is increasing, especially in Asia 201 .
Critical success factors for the effective control of brown rot and ring rot were identified to be
the following:
The fact that it is a important commercial crop so that there is an incentive for the
growers to act, including through responsibility sharing schemes (compensation to
growers for losses);
Very strict and detailed measures imposed by the EC in the Control Directives and
refined procedures for diagnostics (even in case of suspicions of infected areas, control
measures are set up in order to confirm diseases);
Common procedures (obligations are very detailed and there is no possibility to
interpret the measures);
The fact that these are very focused diseases in terms of plants and areas to be
controlled;
200 ADAS Consulting Limited and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, An Economic
Evaluation of MAFF Plant Health Programme, October 2000.
201 Source: The potato sector in the EU, Commission staff working document SEC (2007) 533 of 20 April 2007.
FCEC 194