Biogardens the most intense form of organic food production – Source of health and employment opportunity

The presence of organic agriculture keeps growing in Serbia, and no large amounts of land are needed to produce healthy food for one family. A few square meters are sufficient for the plants to have a very good appearance and quality. The most intense form of growing vegetables organically is the so-called biogarden, which can be a source of health, but also an opportunity for a greatly increased production.

- The best example of organic agriculture is intense biogardening, which necessarily involves composting, crop rotation, mulching, cover crops, an abundance of plants and friendly insects too, which are the main helpers in organic protection. Preventive measures and precaution are the foundations of the vegetable production management system – explains professor Dr Branka Lazic from the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad in her interview for eKapija.

Lazic says that biogardens are often formed for the needs of households and in such cases, there are traditional gardens based on organic principles, but not certified. Nevertheless, if the products are meant for the market, they need to be certified.

This type of growing vegetables has become customary in many urban areas, but biogardens also present a great opportunity for employing people in villages. In Vojvodina, six hundred women have been trained for producing vegetables in biogardens through cooperatives.

- Our process of learning, founding the production and getting certified took three years and involved a total of 1,700 women, primarily from rural parts of Vojvodina. Thanks to active effort by the Secretariat for Gender Equality and the Provincial Institute for Gender Equality, it was possible to assemble 600 women from all regions of Vojvodina for the first phase of the Forum on organic agriculture and biogardening. My associates and I had the opportunity to meet them, talk to them and educate them – professor Lazic says.

Beginning with the “Organic Production – An Opportunity for Everyone” forum (2013-2014), organized by the Government of Vojvodina, i.e. the Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality and the Provincial Institute of Gender Equality with the cooperatives of women from the rural parts of Vojvodina, the expert agricultural services team, the Institute and the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad, the NGO Green Network of Vojvodina and the Center for Organic Production Selenca, based on the program designed and realized by professor Branka Lazic, the program reached the stage of “Open Schools of Organic Agriculture”, based on the FAO open school system (schools without walls), in 2015.

- That's when the first foundations of organic agriculture were laid and, very importantly, the moment when old friendships were confirmed and new ones established on the basis of organic agriculture. The second phase, the education program for women within their cooperatives was the so-called education with lectures in various areas of organic production depending on the specialization of cooperatives and the dominant agricultural production, that is, traditionally female professions – says eKapija's interviewee.

The first biogardens and the first plastic greenhouses and orchards based on organic principles were established back in 2013 and 2014. Thanks to the successful realization of the FAO open school projects within the Center for Organic Production Selenca, valuable experience was gained in combining lectures with practical learning.

- In 2015, the Provincial Institute of Gender Equality established a project of economic strengthening of women within the activities by women's associations and other organizations which educate women, with eight open school centers as examples of good organic practice. The work was carried out in the associations' centers in two phases: expert lectures in chosen areas of organic production and, most importantly, practical work, discussions and socializing in biogardens and plastic greenhouses run by women.

Professor Lazic emphasizes that the first, extremely important, steps towards educating women for working in biogardens and greenhouses within the open schools have brought numerous innovations, and the women's associations have successfully created opportunities for the development of women's centers for organic production and their role in the economic strengthening of the female population.

M. Andrejić

Poljoprivredni fakultet Novi Sad

Pokrajinski sekretarijat za socijalnu politiku, demografiju i ravnopravnost polova Novi Sad

Koordinaciono telo za rodnu ravnopravnost Vlade Srbije

Vlada AP Vojvodina

Zelena mreža Vojvodine

COPS Centar za organsku proizvodnju Selenča

organic agriculture

organic food production

biogarden

Branka Lazic

Secretariat for Gender Equality

Provincial Institute of Gender Equality

Government of Vojvodina

NGO Green Network of Vojvodina

Center for ORganic Production Selenca

Open Organic Production Schools

FAO