Conception of national model of functioning fruit and vegetable producer organizations

The organizing of the fruit and vegetable market in ES is based on promotion and financial support for establishment of producer organizations. This is a means of market regulation, which aims at creating a strong self-government of orchard's and gardeners, able to solve important problems of the market and take responsibility for the market status. The activity of producer organizations has a great influence upon the restructurization and multifunctional development of agriculture, creation of new working places in the rural areas, and it also allows a more effective implementation of agrarian policy in ES countries and easier determination of industrial opportunities on the bases of which the export and import policy can be adjusted to the needs of the country. A necessary condition for the increase of competitiveness of Lithuanian fruits and vegetables horticulture and olericulture sector is the possibly most rapid creation of producer organizations that enables planning the production, better adjustment of supply to demand, diminishing the costs of production and realization, increasing the income of producers. The conducted research indicated that the level of cooperation of fruit and vegetable producer organizations is comparably low, and a big part of registered cooperatives is economically undeveloped and does not correspond to even the lowest requirements of acknowledgement as a producer organization. The other reason why the formation of producer organizations is still in a project stage is the passiveness of producers, which decreases their competitiveness, does not allow the full usage of market opportunities, and does not promote the social development of rural areas as well as structural changesVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŽemės ūkio akademij