Improving knowledge on good practices in Food Quality with emphasis on

special products in Slovenia

Marija Klopčič1, Janez Glavač2 & Abele Kuipers3

1

University of Ljubljana,

Biotechnical Faculty,

Zootechnical

Department,

Slovenia2

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Ljubljana, Slovenia,3 Expertisecentre

for Farm Management and Knowledge Transfer,Wageningen

University and Research Centre, Wageningen,

The Netherlands

Technical Seminar “Quality food products linked to geographical origin and traditions in South and Eastern Europe”

Belgrade,

Serbia: 3 –

4 December

2008

Introduction

•

Important option in agriculture is diversification •

A questionnaire was held to ask farmers about their future plans

•

About half of the farmers choose for specialisation and about half for diversification

•

In the present study we look at market opportunities for special regional products as a form of diversification

•

This was a bilateral PPA project between Slovenia and The Netherlands

and

Twinning

project

“Farming

with

Quota

and

Premiums

CIKA % Suckler

cow %

Dairy %

No future plans/to stop farming /keep hobby farmKeep

the farm as it is nowDevelop

the farm further

n=111204634

n=121145531

n=1114104149

-

by increasing number of cows-

by starting/increasing with a new branch:

HorsesAgro-tourismLocal

products

n=387682

163215

n=373870

232614

n=5416454

652

Changing

to organic farming 44 43 6

Future plans of farmers

Entrepreneurial orientation and performance of primary producers in The Netherlands and in Slovenia

The Netherlands Slovenia

Proactiveness 4.43 4.78Innovativeness 4.36 5.35Risk_taking 3.02 3.07Competitive 3.37 3.31Autonomous 4.27 4.01Success 4.62 3.91Expectations 3.75 4.02N= 120 120

Numbers in

bold indicate that the difference between the Dutch and Slovenian average is statistically significant

Approach for development of marketing strategy

Regional

productsExternal

analysis

Internal

analysis

SWOT

Aims; strategic

options

Implementation

EU definitionSpecial Regional Products

Protected Designation of Origin

-

PDO

-

raw material and processing in the area

-

natural product differences

Protected Geographical Indication

-

PGI

-

processing in the area

-

link between product and area

Traditional Speciality Guaranteed

-

TSG

- traditional ingredients

- traditional composition

- traditional processing

11 12 5

Categories of regional products and factors describing region-boundness

Territoriality Typicality Traditional Collectivity

Specialregional product

Localproduced

Typical food

product

Industrial regionalproduct

Breed

Factors and aspects describing region-boundness

(1)

Factor Subject AspectTerritoriality Chain Regional agriculture

Regional processingRegional trade organisationLocal/regional consumption

Typicality Physical product /processing

Typical raw materialRegional recipeArtisanal

processingLimited production capacityTypical shape or packing

Factors and aspects describing region-boundness

(2)

Factor Subject AspectTraditionallity Story of the

productLong traditionExclusive historical bondsQuality of the storyTraditional way (recipe, processing)

Collectiveness Organisation Primary producersProcessorsMarketing

Slovenian protected special agricultural products

Designation of Origin (PDO)•

Nanos

cheese•

Tolmin

cheese•

Bovec

cheese•

Mohant

cheese•

Ham from Prekmurje•

Extra virgin olive oil from Slovenian Istria•

Forest honey from Kočevsko•

Karst

honey•

Piran

salt•

Karst

lamb's meat•

Karst

sheep

cheese

Geographical Indication (PGI)•

Styrian

Prekmurje

pumpkin oil•

Sebrelje

stomach•

Zgornje-Savinjski

stomach•

Karst

ham•

Prleska

Tünka•

Vipava

ham•

Eggs under Kamnik

mountains•

Karst

zašinek•

Karst

panceta•

Ptuj

onion•

Vipava

zašinek•

Carniolan

spiced pork sausage

Slovenian protected special agriculturalproducts

Slovenian protected special agricultural products and foodstuffs

(3)

Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG)

•

Prekmurska

gibanica•

Idrijski

Žlikrofi

•

Belokranjska

pogača•

Belokranjska

povitica

•

Prosta

povitica

Questionnaire

to collect basic data

•

Nanos cheese•

Bovec cheese•

Extra virgin olive oil from Slovenian Istria

•

Ham from Prekmurje•

Forest honey from Kočevsko•

Styrian

Prekmurje

pumpkin oil•

Karst

honey•

Šebrelje

stomach•

Prleška Tünka•

Prekmurska

gibanica•

Idrijski

Žlikrofi•

Kostelska rakija

Interviews

• Nanos cheese• Extra virgin olive oil from Slovenian Istria• Ham from Prekmurje• Forest honey from Kočevsko• Karst

honey• Styrian

Prekmurje

pumpkin oil• Šebrelje

stomach• Prleška Tünka• Prekmurska

gibanica• Idrijski

Žlikrofi

Breed•

Nanos

and Tolmin

cheese from milk of Brown breed

in two sub-regions

•

Bovec

cheese

from

milk

of

local

Bovec sheep

breed•

Mohant

cheese

from milk of local Cika

breed•

Karst

and Kocevje

honey from local bee

breed Apis mellifera carnica

•

Sebrelje

stomach,

Ham from Prekmurje

and

Prleška Tünka

from traditional Slovenian

breeds

of pigs•

Karst

lamb's meat

and

Karst

sheep

cheese

from

local

sheep

breeds

Istrian

Pramenka

Impressions from questionnaire andinterviews:•

Producers of special regional products present their products with enthusiasm and pride

•

They know very well how to present the tradition, specialities and quality of their products –

strong

points (SWOT)•

They talk much more difficult about weaknesses

of their products

(on food

chain: from

production

to marketing)

–

SWOT•

They are very well able to indicate opportunities

of their products –

SWOT•

They are reluctant to start talking about threats facing

them

(about

competition)

-

SWOT

SWOT analysis

Use of official labels

Designation of Origin -

PDOGeographical indication -

PDOTraditional specialty guaranteed -

TSG

Higher Quality Organic Farming Integrated Production

It is surprising that producers do not yetnot yet

use the official labels of special products (only Styrian Prekmurje pumpkin oil and Nanos Chees)

It is not enough clear, that these products are certififiedcertifified

(high costs)

All producers agree that they need good, recognizable and wide spread advertisement

Common for all protected (PDO/PGI/TSG) products together

On national level

With financial and professional support of MAFF

They realize that their products are not enough recognized on the market

Information about products

☺

Home sale (direct contact with buyers)

☺

Sale in market hall, on different performances (market stall)

☺

Sale in butik: special shop for all protected regional products (in bigger cities and tourist centres)

☺

Offer of local protected products as souvenir (honey, rakija…)

☺

Sell in the range of tourist, hotel and catering: hotels, restaurants, health resorts, catering, sweetshops, …

Supermarkets: reserve special place (market shelf) for special regional protected products – identification of products (no direct contact) – logistics problems

Sale of regional local products

The products need good and convincing storyDirect contact between buyer/customer and seller/producersPublic-informative material in different languagesArticles in newspapers and public appearance in mediaEmphasis on the tradition, quality, appetizing and specialities of product – part of storyThe internal and external system of control is part of this story Close link of product to region and/or province

Story

Producers are organised as association or organization of producers

All members of such an organization do not yet certify their own products

No uniform accession of producers on the market No rules and effective system of control concerning the use of the name of the product (e.g.. idrijski zlikrofi, karst honey) – protection of the name!!!–

penalty for falsification

In the market you can find products, that are sold under the same name at considerable lower prices (worse quality) –Consumers don’t know the actual quality of products!

Organization of producers

The volume of production of protected local productsis limited

Supply for most products is smaller than demand; No need to look for other market channels like supermarket

They wish to sell their products on foreign markets (higher price!?!)

Too high profit margin in supermarkets – they destroy the added value of special regional products (Nanos cheese)

Volume of production

Opportunities

• Utilise local and traditional breed as part of the story• Some products are health oriented, which is an

international growth market• Use positive image of the Alps in the product offer• Alliances with tourist and

governmental

organisation

could be useful!

Strengths• Local market as base• Product quality has had much attention so far; all ISOand HACCP

• All described products have market potentials• High ambitions• Protected status is b-to-b

valued

• Mainly selling in specialty shops on base of personal selling

• Focused strategy on personal selling• Selling in tourist market, spin off possibilities• Nearly all products have unique characteristics thatare difficult to be copied, especially PDO’s

SWOT analysis

Weaknesses• Positioning of products could be more clear• Not all products have a strong marketing concept• Not everybody labels with official characters• Most companies are still in the product orientation• Slovenia heritage is internationally not well-known yet• Nearly all companies are from a national and internationalperspective small

• In some producers unions every producer has his own product, pricing and promotion strategy

• Financial situation not for every company good• No specific choice for distribution channels; dare tochoose!

SWOT analysis

Opportunities

• Some products are internationally unique

• Some products are health oriented, which is an international growth market

• International trends that are answered in product proposition

• Alliances with tourist or governmental organizations could be very useful

SWOT analysis

Threats

• Some products have internationally competitors

• Some products have to compete with products from multinationals if they want to scale up to supermarkets

• Several companies state that they do not have competitors

SWOT analysis

Recommendations

PDO’s

•

Use the natural differences of the products in the product proposition

•

Use the content of general regional promotions in your product proposition

•

Use direct selling as a sign for the business and the origin of the products

•

Assess market potential in specific target groups

•

Make choices to who you want to sell

Recommendations PGI’s

•

Identify and communicate the distinguishing product characteristics are very important

•

Use the content of general regional promotions in the product proposition

•

Use the possibility for increase in scale•

In potential group of products for the supermarkets, explore this channel

•

Assess market potential in specific target groups •

Make choices to who you want to sell to

Recomendations

TSG’s

•

Protect

the

recipe

from

copying

and

sue

illegal copies

•

Keep these products small•

Only scaling up with guaranteed freshness and quality

•

Most recent cooling techniques could be valuable•

Use the content of general regional promotions in your product proposition

•

Go into

alliances

with tourist organizations

Recommendations to the government

•

Promote the meaning of the different special product labels

•

Stimulate supermarkets to organise special product corners

•

Promote Slovenia and the Slovenian heritage in the rest of Europe

Thank you!