On Wednesday Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, a former agriculture minister, announced that under a scheme dubbed 'Local shelf' retail chains "will be obliged to cooperate with local food producers."
Waldemar Deska/PAP

The governing party Law and Justice (PiS) has unveiled a project aimed at supporting local food suppliers as part of its campaign for the October 15 election.

On Wednesday Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, a former agriculture minister, announced that under a scheme dubbed ‘Local shelf’ retail chains “will be obliged to cooperate with local food producers.”

“Supermarkets will be obliged to offer at least two-thirds of fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat products, and bread from local suppliers,” he said and added that it will be possible to check on the receipts which country a product comes from.

According to Ardanowski, this obligation “will strengthen the position of local suppliers in relation to other links in the food supply chain, as well as facilitate consumer access to products produced by smaller, also local producers.”

“No more low-quality vegetables and fruits. No more profit at all costs,” he said.

Ardanowski added that farmers will benefit from the programme because they will have easy access to local markets, without intermediaries, with low costs of transporting goods and more money remaining in their pockets.

At the same time, he added, customers will benefit because they will have better access to fresh and tasty products, and their money will stay “in their neighbourhood.”

This is PiS’s third election programme proposal this week, following a plan to revitalise old prefabricated residential blocks and a scheme to improve the quality of hospital food.