Carrefour Polska forms coalition to promote sustainable food production | Progresiv
Carrefour Polska has joined forces with the Polish Chamber of Organic Food, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, and the EKOŁAN association to form a coalition that will promote organic farming in the country. 
The measure is supported by Poland’s minister of agriculture and rural development, Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, and has been named ‘the coalition for the development of the bio-food market.’
President of Carrefour Polska, Christophe Rabatel, said, “As a member of the coalition, Carrefour wants to support farmers through direct cooperation, our know-how, logistics and extensive infrastructure of almost 900 stores.
“We will also continue to educate Polish clients in the field of healthy nutrition.”
Data from trade quality inspections of agricultural and food products suggests that organic farming in Poland is falling rapidly, with only about 500,000 hectares of land being used for growing organic food.
However, sales of organic food in the Polish market continue to be high, and this demand is largely met through imports.
Around 62% of Polish consumers confirmed that they would pay more for products without a long list of artificial additives and ingredients, according to Nielsen.
“Today's consumer is more and more aware of the impact of nutrition on health, and our mission is to offer him the products he or she is looking for and needs," Rabatel added.
"Since the current year, we have been implementing a strategy to democratise organic food so that it is available to everyone.”
Organic farmers and producers remain a niche in the Polish food market, and face numerous obstacles in terms of growing sustainable food items.
The coalition, therefore, aims to help local farmers and food manufacturers in optimising the production and distribution of locally produced sustainable food.
Advisor to the minister of agriculture and rural development, Karol Krajewski, said, “To help farmers, we want to take action to facilitate the certification process and simplify procedures and the necessary legal framework.
“Our goal is to support processors and retail trade in the field of organic products, as well as offering real help for small farms that want to switch to this agricultural direction and specialise in the production of high-quality food.” (www.esmmagazine.com)
