Diagnosis of the peas and fababeans value chains (Latvia)

Faba beans and peas production have expediently grown in Latvia in recent years for several reasons. The main influencing factor has been the EU greening requirements. The Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre (LLKC) collaborate with farmers who have been growing beans long before any EU requirements. These farmers have been motivated to grow faba beans and peas in order to improve crop rotation where mostly grain and oilseed rape have been grown. Those legumes fit very well within this kind of rotation in Latvia conditions. Farmers mostly appreciate the effect legumes - beans have on soil fertility and furthermore on grain yield. With beans and peas domestic production growth and area expansion in recent years, processors have developed too. Beans and peas are starting to play a bigger role in animal feed; farmers deal with a larger number of varieties, as well as crop protection and fertiliser technological strategies from technical suppliers.

The project gives the opportunity to determine the benefits of growing faba beans and peas for farmers, the experience gained by input suppliers, collectors and processors and the benefits obtained by the end-users. This collected data will provide a fair and true view of the role that beans and peas play in crop production sector in Latvia region.