Miloš Milovanović, Assistant to Minister of Agriculture – Year 2009 will be the turning point in development of organic agricultural production in Serbia

The Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Waterpower Engineering prepared a brand new program for developmentof organic agricultural production in Serbia in 2009. About 30m RSD has alreadybeen provided for that purpose, as well as certain funds from donors. TheAssistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Miloš Milovanović, announced in theinterview for eKapija that the necessary sublegal acts would be put in effectby the end of January and that the interested farmers would then be able to apply for subventions in amount of 24,000RSD per ha. Organic production, as Milovanović explained at "Green Week“in Berlin, is one of the export opportunities of Serbia, and the price oforganic food is up to 50% higher than the usual one.

eKapija: Organic production in Serbia is underdeveloped. According tosome estimates, only 15 ha or 0.3% of all cultivable fields in Serbia is used for that purpose, while the potential cultivable area amounts to 200,000 ha.

- The surfaces used for organic production in Serbia arevery small. However, that information is not so surprising when we have in mindthat that type of production is still at its beginning. Even in Austria, whichserves as one of the best examples of organic production in EU, these surfacesrepresent only about 2% of all cultivable fields.

eKapija: How does the Ministry’s program for development of thatproduction in Serbia in 2009 look like?

- The Ministry is currently preparing the appropriate sublegal act, that is,the regulation that is the precondition for initiation of the program for thisyear. The program will be available to the public by the end of January and itis quite advanced when compared to its earlier versions. We have set aside 30mRSD for that purpose, which is 10 times more than in 2008, and we will alsoobtain funds from donors. The program for development of organic agriculture inSerbia will represent a combination of support from European countries anddirect payments to manufacturers in that domain. We will also try to educateboth farmers and potential consumers of organic products.

eKapija: How big the subventions for farmers who want to deal with productionof healthy food will be?

- These funds will be twice as big as usual grants, which will amount to12,000 RSD in 2009. Therefore, anyone who decides for organic production willbe able to apply for subventions of 24,000 RSD per hectare. I am using thisoccasion to invite all interested manufacturer to contact us for additionalinformation on the conditions.

eKapija: How will the donors’ aid be used?

- The funds we obtain from foreign donors will be invested in broader aspectof promotion of organic agricultural production and establishment of necessaryinstitutional system for its functioning. Agricultural manufacturers will notbe able to apply for certain subventions in this case, but they will certainlyhave the opportunity to travel to some country where they will be able to seehow serious organic production looks like, to discover its advantages, as wellas to find out which conditions they need to meet in order for their productsto be called organic.

eKapija: Which agricultural sector in Serbia has best prospects fordevelopment of organic production?

- Serbia has great potentials in both fruit and vegetable production andcattle breeding. However, we should expect greater progress in fruit andvegetable production since the process is simpler.

eKapija: Which will be the target markets for organic products fromSerbia?

- All markets will be open to us, and our assumption is that, in addition tosatisfaction of domestic needs, foreign markets will be our priority since weare able to create a product whose price and quality are highly competitive. Ourtop priority is the market of European Union because we already have thepreferential status in that market since year 2000. We also find thesurrounding markets very important.

eKapija: In which way were the funds for organic agricultural productionused in 2008?

- We spent insignificant amount of money on organic production in 2008. Wemainly invested the funds in some smaller programs in the domain of organicproduction because we did not have enough money for some serious projects andsubventions like we do now. I hope that the concept we are going to startapplying will have a pyramidal effect on all those involved in organicproduction in Serbia in 2009 and in the years to come.

T.S.