This industry study reviews the current status of organic agriculture in Serbia and examines the sector in the context of historical developments, future challenges and opportunities.
The first steps in organic production development were taken back in 1990, when the NGO Terra’s established a promotional network of producers, farmers, advisors and academic staff involved in organic food production.
Twenty years later and taking advantage of the support of many national and international institutions, ministries, donors and technical organisations, the organic sector in Serbia has attained a respectable level:
- Several associations systematically promote and develop the organic sector;
- Governmental institutions and ministries, spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, monitor and take care of the sector’s needs;
- About 20 academic institutes, faculties, R&D facilities and affiliated bodies help to design and propagate most appropriate farming and cropping systems;
- Seven certification bodies make sure that national and international regulations governing organic certification are complied with.
Nevertheless, within the context of modernising the economy in general and the agricultural sector in particular, and the need to shape the agricultural sector in such a way that it can integrate itself into the European Common Agricultural Policy framework, organic agriculture finds it hard to achieve a satisfactory rate of growth.
On more than 11,000 hectares of agricultural land, the product portfolio mostly consists of fruitsand field crops, with constant growth of cereals and oilseeds production. Most of these products are exported, for the most part to the EU, as domestic market development is hampered by the insufficiently increasing purchasing power of consumers.
The sector study is published by the National Association Serbia Organica, with the Support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the private sector development program ACCESS.
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Organic Agriculture in Serbia At a Glance 2013
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