The rising cost of paying pickers could price Hungarian farmers out of the raspberry market, daily newspaper Magyar Idők has reported.
Pickers' wages account for about 200 HUF of the 600 HUF farm gate price for a kilo of raspberries in Hungary. Pickers in Serbia, Romania and Ukraine work for just a fraction of that, the newspaper said.
György Csizmadia, deputy head of Hungary’s Fruit and Vegetable Product Council, told the newspaper that farmers are growing fewer and fewer raspberries and the crop could disappear entirely in the coming years.
Data from the Agriculture Research Institute (AKI) also shows Hungary’s raspberry crop has fallen from an annual 27,000 tonnes in the early ’90s to 1,500-2,000 tonnes at present.
The picker pay problem may also extend to other farm produce items and calls have been made to look at both the costs and sale prices to rectify the issues.