Agribusiness (ACE/RIEDA)

USAID assisted Croatian farmers, producers and processors to raise the competitiveness of the Croatian agricultural sector in order to compete in national and regional markets. 

Project completed in March 2008

The collapse of large agricultural producer/processor conglomerates during the 1990s hurt the competitiveness of Croatia's agricultural products.  In order to meet the challenge of competing directly with the heavily subsidized EU agriculture, Croatia's agriculture industry focused on strengthening its competitiveness, expanding processor utilization of domestic inputs and developing export markets.  Starting in 2002, the Agribusiness Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) project assisted Croatia's agribusinesses (consisting mostly of small and medium enterprises) to improve domestic market linkages between producers, processors and wholesale/retail outlets.

The project operated across the country and was organized around three components: dairy, swine and horticulture.  The project worked at all levels of the food chain but the primary focus was on the development of "competitive production models" that could be replicated through major processors and retailers to their suppliers, Croatian agricultural producers.  ACE made agreements with more than 60 technical assistance partners representing more than 4,000 farm producers.
The project collaborated with Podravka, Lura and other large Croatian food processors to improve farmer skills, productivity and quality.  Technical assistance was provided to small and medium size food companies and processor groups to improve processing efficiency, product quality and increase the demand for products from Croatian farmers.

USAID's Raising Incomes in Economically Distressed Areas project (RIEDA) began working hand in hand with ACE in 2003 by helping small producers expand production to that of a commercial or emerging commercial farmer.  This additional production was marketed through domestic linkages among producer organizations, processors, distributors, wholesalers and retail organizations identified and supported by the ACE project.

RIEDA, in collaboration with ACE, provided assistance to more than 50 partners representing nearly 3,000 family farms in economically disadvantaged areas of Croatia.

Results

Two thousand farming jobs were created or made sustainable.

The Association of Milk Processors on Family Farms was created and grew to 116 members.

Between 2002 and 2008, annual sales of agricultural products increased by more than $460 million.

Download document: ACE (PDF 758 KB)

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