#71 Serbia Agriculture Bulletin, BFC

08/2021

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71 S e r b i a Agriculture Bulletin CERES Project to Introduce AI into Agricultural Production Nearly 1,000 New Cooperatives Established in Four Years IPARD Funding Available for Physical Property Investments High Vegetable Prices Expected to Grow Even Higher

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Agriculture Finance Bulletin Edition #71, August 2021

Contents State Initiatives ........................................................................................................... 2 1) 2) 3)

CERES Project to Introduce AI into Agricultural Production............................................................ 2 Nearly 1,000 New Cooperatives Established in Four Years ............................................................. 2 Increasing Number of Requests for Agricultural Subsidies ............................................................. 2

Foreign Aid ................................................................................................................. 2 4) 5) 6)

DIONE Project Developing Innovative Toolset for Agricultural Monitoring.................................... 2 IPARD Funding Available for Physical Property Investments .......................................................... 3 Food System Conference Highlights Shortcoming in Agricultural Production ................................ 3

Private Sector.............................................................................................................. 3 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14) 15)

Milk Subsidies Appreciated but Not Enough for Dairy Farmers ...................................................... 3 High Vegetable Prices Expected to Grow Even Higher .................................................................... 3 24,000 Hectares Now Under Organic Production ........................................................................... 3 Cattle Breeder Frustrations Growing .............................................................................................. 4 Agricultural Producer Prices Up 30.2% Year-on-Year ...................................................................... 4 The Flying Farmers of Tomorrow .................................................................................................... 4 Corn Yield Expected to Be Down 50% This Year .............................................................................. 4 Domestic Production Under Threat ................................................................................................ 4 Meat Prices Up 25% Since the Beginning of the Year ..................................................................... 5

Note: The Agriculture Bulletin presents a monthly roundup of headlines and news stories related to Serbia’s agricultural sector.

This bulletin is prepared by Business & Finance Consulting—a Swiss-based development finance consulting company. Currently, BFC is implementing “Development of Financial System in Rural Areas in Serbia” programme for KfW. Read more »

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State Initiatives 1)

CERES Project to Introduce AI into Agricultural Production

August 18th, 2021, http://subvencije.rs/vesti/ceres-projekat-vestacka

The Science Fund of Serbia, through its Program for the Development Project in the Field of Artificial Intelligence, has launched the CERES project to develop tools based on artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that will support agricultural production and regenerative agriculture (which will help in the fight against the impacts of climate change). In particular, the project hopes to consolidate information from optical and radar satellite images, land data, meteorological data and textual information from the internet to automatically generate new information that will enable proper decisions about agriculture to be made in a timely manner.

2)

Nearly 1,000 New Cooperatives Established in Four Years

August 3rd, 2021, http://www.agronews.rs/za-cetiri-godine-osnovano-skoro-1-000-novih-zadruga/

In 2017, the 500 Cooperatives in 500 Villages project was established to strengthen small producers and keep conditions livable in rural areas. Since then, the project and its RSD 1.7 billion have helped 956 new cooperatives form. This year, more than 300 cooperatives applied for the USD 500,000 in incentive funding available under the project, demonstrating the growing popularity of cooperatives as tools to help in rural development.

3)

Increasing Number of Requests for Agricultural Subsidies

August 1st, 2021, http://www.rtv.rs/sr_ci/ekonomija/aktuelno/nedimovic

Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimovic has noted that the growing number of requests for subsidies in agriculture, the increasing amount of available subsidies overall and work to establish a control system for subsidies have resulted in bottlenecks for the processing of subsidy requests. He stated that part of the bottleneck is due to every request now being controlled against signs of financial abuse. The Minister also noted that the number of people involved in processing subsidy requests has been doubled and requested patience from those who have applied. According to the Minister, subsidies for 2021 have already started to be paid out, and work will continue in this direction.

Foreign Aid 4)

DIONE Project Developing Innovative Toolset for Agricultural Monitoring

August 27th, 2021, http://www.agronews.rs/dione-set-alata-inovativne-tehnologije-za-monitoring-poljoprivrede/

As part of a plan to simplify and modernize the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (EU), the European Commission (EC) has adopted new rules that allow the use of a range of modern technologies in checking area-based CAP payments, including new satellite technology that reduces the number of field inspections and the cost of administering controls and inspections. Based on this, the DIONE project of the Novi Sad company InoSens, with funding from the EU, is developing a set of tools to enable European agricultural payment agencies to comply with the modernized regulations as well as verify compliance with environmental guidelines. Currently, the DIONE toolset is being validated by the National Agency for Agrarian Payments from Lithuania and the Organization for Agricultural Payments from Cyprus. Preliminary results are already showing the expected benefits of the toolset (e.g. lower administrative and operational costs, more accurate and cheaper compliance checks, a broader sample and auditable proof of compliance).

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5)

IPARD Funding Available for Physical Property Investments

August 17th, 2021, http://www.rtv.rs/sr_ci/ekonomija/novi-poziv-poljoprivrednicima-za-podsticaje-za-ulaganja_1264777.html

Farmers interested in investing in physical property related to the processing and marketing of agricultural and fishery products have until October 29, 2021 to apply for IPARD funding toward this end. Eligible costs to be supported with the funding include construction costs as well as purchases of new equipment.

Farmers engaged in the production of eggs, grapes, milk, meat, fruit and/or vegetables are eligible.

Funding amounts will be approved between EUR 10,000 and EUR 1,000,000, with those involved in dairy production eligible for up to EUR 2,000,000.

6)

Food System Conference Highlights Shortcoming in Agricultural Production

August 10th, 2021, http://uap.gov.rs/izgradnja-odrzivih-prehrambenih-sistema/

The United Nations, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, organized the Building Sustainable Food Systems Through Inclusive Value Chains conference to promote national dialogues toward the development of sustainable food systems and the policies that support them. The conference included several discussions on food supply chains, the environment and consumer behaviors. Participants also discussed new support opportunities available to Serbian agricultural producers. Participants agreed that Serbia’s current food production system has shown its limits, with existing challenges becoming more evident with each passing day. They also noted the high potential of Serbia’s agricultural sector, especially with proper training and guidance in terms of directions and production techniques.

Private Sector 7)

Milk Subsidies Appreciated but Not Enough for Dairy Farmers

August 25th, 2021, https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/486220/Vece-premije-za-mleko

A recent decision to increase milk subsidies by RSD 3 (from RSD 7 to RSD 10) is not expected to stop the sale of dairy cows as hoped due to production prices (RSD 56 per liter) still being far below sales prices (RSD 37). Dairy farmers, although appreciative of any help in reducing losses, are also calling on milk production facilities to increase their purchasing prices of raw milk to ensure that they no longer have to operate at a loss.

8)

High Vegetable Prices Expected to Grow Even Higher

August 24th, 2021, https://www.021.rs/story/Info/Biznis-i-ekonomija/282921/Povrce-u-Srbiji

This year, high temperatures and increased damage from pests have causes reduced vegetable yields and increased production costs. This has resulted in higher-than-normal prices for vegetables, especially potatoes, cabbage and tomatoes, in the markets around the country. Moreover, prices are expected to remain high or grow even higher heading into autumn and winter.

9)

24,000 Hectares Now Under Organic Production

August 23rd, 2021, https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/486106/U-Srbiji-24-000-hektara-pod-organskom-proizvodnjom

Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimovic has announced the growing popularity of organic agricultural production in Serbia, with approximately 24,000 hectares now being used to produce organic products in the country. The Minister believes this is a positive step forward for the country and hopes that Serbia can eventually become one of the largest organic producers in Europe. The Minister noted that the largest Page 3

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profits in organic agricultural production can be achieved within the fruit-growing sector, especially for those working on smaller plots of land.

10) Cattle Breeder Frustrations Growing August 16th, 2021, https://www.021.rs/story/Info/Biznis-i-ekonomija/282229/Udruzenje-SPAS

Serbian cattle breeders are becoming increasingly frustrated with current agricultural policies and are on the verge of protesting. In particular, they feel that they are in a no-win position with an increasing price for inputs such as animal feed and a decreasing or stagnant price for meat. In fact, some cattle breeders state that current selling prices do not cover even 40% of production costs. This, in turn, is causing many to turn away from cattle production, with some estimates indicating that Serbia’s cattle population has already dropped by 500,000.

11) Agricultural Producer Prices Up 30.2% Year-on-Year August 13th, 2021, https://agrosmart.net/2021/08/13/cena-poljoprivrednih-proizvoda-ya-godinu-dana-porasle-3021-odsto/

Producer prices of agricultural and fishery products in June 2021 were 30.2% higher as compared to the same month 2020, with the largest growth recorded in industrial plant (53.4%) and cereal (35.7%) production. As compared to May 2021 however, producer prices were down 1.2%, with the largest declines in vegetable (-21.4%) and industrial plant (-1.7%) production.

12) The Flying Farmers of Tomorrow August 10th, 2021, http://www.agronews.rs/leteci-poljoprivrednici-na-srpskim-poljima/

The Agro-Drone project has been ongoing in Serbia with the assistance of mechanical engineering, electronics, aviation, agricultural and security experts. The aim of the project is to develop the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to map agricultural areas to predict crop growth and protection measures. This is especially useful for areas where traditional mechanization is not possible due to difficult terrain or crop sensitivities. Currently, the project is in the phase of conducting several tests and trials and is working to popularize the concept throughout the country. In the near future, the project will also work to train new “flying farmers” to be the farmers of tomorrow.

13) Corn Yield Expected to Be Down 50% This Year August 9th, 2021, https://www.danas.rs/ekonomija/strucnjaci-u-srbiji-kukuruza-ove-godine-do-50-odsto-manje/

High temperatures and a lack of moisture are expected to result in a 50% reduction in Serbia’s corn yield this year. The hardest-hit areas this year for corn production have been Banat (Eastern Serbia) and parts of Sumadija. Meanwhile, the yield is expected to be average or good in Western Backa, Srem and the Pozega Valley, although these do not represent large production areas. With last year’s yield averaging 8.1 tons per hectare, this means that the average yield per hectare this year will only be 5.9 tons.

14) Domestic Production Under Threat August 6th, 2021, https://www.danas.rs/ekonomija/bice-mesa-ali-ne-i-farmera/

A recent fall in livestock prices in the European market is not expected to impact the availability of meat in Serbia, but domestic production will likely suffer as farmers come to terms with the current unstable conditions. In fact, many farmers are choosing to leave livestock fattening, with Zoran Milicevic (president of the Assembly of Agricultural Producers of Serbia) announcing that as many of 1.5 million farmers across the country have already made that choice. The main reasons from uncertain stem from large price oscillations during different seasons as well as price variations from region to region. Additionally, the Page 4

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presence of African swine flu has also caused confusion for many pork producers. At the same time, Serbia’s food security, including its meat industry, is important for long-term growth as well as stability in times of crises, as evidenced by the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

15) Meat Prices Up 25% Since the Beginning of the Year August 5th, 2021, https://rs.n1info.com/biznis/cene-gotovo-neprimetno-rastu-meso-poskupelo-u-proseku-za-25-odsto/

Food prices are slowly rising, with meat seeing an average 25% higher in price since the beginning of the year. The increase is prices is due to market fluctuations as well as difficult circumstances for some livestock breeders. For example, cattle breeders are in a very difficult position due to the increase in the price corn and soybean meal, two basic nutritional sources for cattle. Additionally, fresh meat imports from the European Union (EU) have also been reduced by 30%. Experts remain uncertain if prices will continue to rise.

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