Vegetable production in Slovenia

The main characteristics of vegetable production in Slovenia are the following: weak organisation, i.e. the connection of producers with the distributors, rather poor equipment and mechanisation, limited protected areas, storage capacity, unsatisfactory professional preparation of products for the market. After 1978, vegetable production began to gain on importance. In the study on development of marketable production it was shown that 20% of production was dedicated to market and that the consumption of vegetables was increasing. Until 1992, the production of vegetable for processing had better possibilities for marketing and therefore it was better organised than the production for fresh market. In the sixties, the seed production of vegetables was spread in the region of Koper and in the north-eastern part of Slovenia. At present, the seed production takes place only in the north-eastern part of Slovenia as well as breeding of new cultivars from autochthonous population. From the Slovenian autochthonous population, 7 cv. of bean, 4 cv. of chicory, 3 cv. of corn salad, 2 cv. of cabbage, 2 cv. of onion, 2 cv. of lettuce, 1 cv. of shallot, 1 cv. of turnip, 1 cv. of carrot and 1 cv. of hot pepper were bred and included in Slovenian Variety List. In the process of registration there are 1 cv. of tomato, 1 cv. of bean, lettuce, shallot. Ecological cultivation was studied at pickling cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, cabbage, bean. As the need for knowledge was expressed immediately after the organisation of production, numerous meetings were organised along with the tasting of, for example, cabbage, pickling cucumbers, vegetables for processing. At the Business Association for Food, five stations and two centres for vegetable research and promotion were established. According to the evaluation done by agricultural advisers the market production of vegetables in the year 1999 was organised on 2,379.8ha, and the total yield for market represents 46.5% of all vegetables produced in Slovenia. The greatest part of the production represent cole crops, followed by salad crops, fruit vegetables, onion and carrot crops and only 0.8% of leguminous crops.