Global Issues
BALKANS: Farming Prospers as Farmers Suffer
Official statistics put Serbian agriculture as the single most productive branch of the economy and one that not only survived the financial meltdown but chalked up a record trade surplus of almost a billion US dollars in 2009.
With the start of the new cropping season in March, Serbian agriculture minister Sasa Dragin has announced that subsidies for individual farmers will be increased from 10,000 dinars (130 dollars) to 14,000 dinars (180 dollars) per hectare of cultivated land, to further boost production of such staples as wheat, corn and vegetables.
Yet, despite the successes, most Serbian farming households - that typically own between 10 and 20 hectares of arable land - are in dire straits and struggling to survive the transition to a market economy.
'The good results of agriculture come mostly from combined production that is in the hands of several major privately-owned or even internationally-owned companies that have come up since 2000,' Vojislav Stankovic from Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC) told IPS.
'They have taken to the concept of integrated production, obtaining resources cheaply from individual producers and turning them into good products that bring in good financial results. But for individual producers, times remain as hard as ever and there should be an overall effort to help them in future,’’ he added.
Serbia has some 4.8 million hectares of arable land and official statistics say that half of its 7.4 million people that live in 4,512 villages, form the basis for agricultural production. Some 40 percent of Serbian youth live in those villages.
The most recent study of the status of farmers in Serbia, called ‘Social Exclusion in Rural Areas of Serbia’, by the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Group for Social Initiative (SECONS), with support from the European Commission (EC) and the United Nations Development Programme, showed that some 37.8 percent of village households in were on the verge of poverty with incomes of around 9,296 dinars (129 dollars) a month.
'We can say with certainty that 27.8 percent out of 1,621 farming households we surveyed have been living in poverty for years now,’’ Mina Petrovic from the SECONS told IPS at the release of the study last month.
The study comprised several dimensions of social exclusion, such as financial poverty, employment opportunities, education and healthcare, material deprivation and social and cultural participation.
'We can also say that villages are being deserted by the young people as few of them see any opportunity for improved lives,’’ Petrovic added. 'They sell their crops, fruits and vegetables cheaply and it’s only the big production complexes that see good profits in the end'.
Separate estimates by the NGO as well as the SCC say that due to depopulation, some 700 out of Serbia’s 4,512 villages will cease to exist in 15 years. They estimate that more than 200,000 men aged above 40 in these villages may never marry because all the eligible girls have migrated to the big towns in search of a better life.
'Young people in the villages are de-motivated to continue their education and 44 percent never finish secondary schools,’’ Marija Babovic from the SECONS told IPS. 'By tradition, men remain to keep their households ’alive’, but young women leave for the big towns, trying to find jobs and escape the hard life on the farms. The result is a growing number of single and impoverished village households.’’
Serbia, like much of former Yugoslavia, needs a strategy of rural development.
Vice-president of Serbian Chamber of Commerce Stojan Jevtic told IPS that there can be no development for villages and farms ‘’unless a critical intellectual mass is created through real strategy'.
'Such a critical mass would be made out of experts who are ready to move to rural areas, work and live there. On its side, the state could help development of infrastructure for better life in villages. But that will take a lot of time,' he added.
Meanwhile the Serbian government has announced plans to encourage households involved in the cultivation of certified brands of grapes, wine and fruits for export. A stimulus of 650 dollars per household will be paid after the autumn harvest.
Apart from that, the funds coming from the European Union (EU) will be used for modernisation of the existing fleet of 700,000 tractors and other basic agriculture machinery. The EU has invested almost 91 million dollars in Serbian agriculture since 2000 and more funds worth 33 million dollars are expected in 2010 and 2011.
Part of the EU funds will be invested in irrigation systems, that are used on 30-40,000 hectares, or less than one percent of Serbia’s arable land.
'I’d love to see investment into that,’’ Marko Stanisavljevic (58) from the village of Azanja, some 100 km south of Belgrade and known as one of the most productive, best looking and orderly villages of Serbia.
'It’s odd to look at the skies in the 21st century and worry about whether it’s going to rain on time or not,’’ he added.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service