Horticultural family farms profitability

Contemporary development of the Croatian horticultural production is affected by numerous changes - social, political and economic. The fruit and vegetables production in Croatia mostly takes place at the family farms and it has been, considering a long-term period, decreasing since the early eighties, and particularly during the war years (1991 - 1995). Presently, the family farms grow vegetables on about 115,000 ha, which is 10.8% of total available arable land and gardens within these farms: in the former socially owned enterprises only 1,000 ha was occupied for vegetables. The orchards owned by family farms currently encompass about 64,000 ha, which is 3.1% of total arable land owned by the family farms: the former socially owned enterprises have only 3,000 ha of orchards. The fruit and vegetables production and yielding level is currently comparatively low. However, the family farming has recently been undergoing certain polarization because the so-called viable farms, which are market-oriented and specialized, some of them incorporated as companies, are gaining strength. During the recent years, a number of family farms undertook intensified production of fruit and vegetables on larger production surfaces in order to change the production structure and increase its cost-efficiency. The increased interest in production of vegetables resulted in establishment of the so-called "vegetable farms", and in growing primarily apple and pear plantations in vegetable-growing and fruit-growing sectors, respectively. The Preliminary Results of Farm Survey in Croatia shows that the family farms under the actual conditions have total income of USD 10,066 in vegetable production and USD 2,666.6 in fruit production, on overage. Tn total household's income on horticultural family farms, the total agricultural income makes about 66% in the vegetable production and only 30% on farms growing fruit.