We Care campaign, Ambassador of Denmark Susanne Shine

1. Could you tell us what are some of the most important aspects of the EU support to the agriculture sector in Serbia?

Agriculture is an important part of the Serbian economy, as it is for most of the EU countries. When you travel around Serbia, you see how important the agricultural sector is for the local municipalities. It creates jobs, and provides good and healthy produce for the Serbian people. EU recognizes that. We want Serbia to prosper and with our program assistance, we want to help where we can. As a European taxpayer, I’m proud to say that the EU in the past 20 years has donated more than 230 million Euros for agriculture and food safety in Serbia.

On top of that, EU also provides direct grants in the so-called EU-pre-accession programme to help farmers investing in new equipment and products. A farmer can get between 50 to 80% of their investments as grants from these funds. Grants for the

next five years will be around 288 million EUROs. I’m aware that Serbia is not yet member of the EU but this clearly shows that the EU wants Serbia in its family and that Serbia already as a candidate country gets huge benefits from EU programmes.

I would like to stress that the main goal of the EU partnerships with Serbia is to assist hardworking and diligent Serbian people in their endeavours to make Serbian economy grow and advance. 

2. What can you tell us about this project?

I’m so happy to see how the EU has supported this impressive factory, Loom of Fruit, that produces anti-hail nets for the agricultural sector. When you see the production facility and all the concrete poles, it might be difficult to understand why it is so important for the agricultural sector.

But as the negative impact of the climate changes that we are facing, we see changes to weather patterns. We see more extreme weather conditions with severe rain and hailstorm, which can be detrimental for the crops. Just imagine a strawberry field after a

hailstorm. The anti-hail nets therefore are vital to protect the crops from those weather conditions. But the nets also serve as anti-insect and anti-sun systems.

Without those nets many Serbian farmers would suffer big economic sacrifices and the grant from EU amounting to 20.000 EUR has secured that Loom of Fruit has been able to use the latest technology to secure the most efficient products for your farmers

and of course also to increase production capacities and to create more Serbian jobs.

Finally, let me underline that Loom of Fruit is recognized as a socially responsible company as they have donated concrete pillars to strawberry plantations in a small village near Kragujevac.

3. What steps can Serbia take in the future to improve its agricultural market development?

The EU is Serbia’s most important trade partner also in the agricultural sector. Around 60% of the Serbian agricultural products are directed to EU and over the last decade Serbian agriculture exports to the EU have tripled, reaching almost 2 billion euros in 2021.

To continue this positive trend Serbia should make sure to align the food safety and quality policy legislation with European standards and also to modernize the sector to be able to compete with the European producers.

I’m pleased to see that Serbia is taking serious steps in this direction. It is a process, which takes time and money. The EU is playing a very important role in helping Serbia in the progress through its programmes and grants earmarked to Serbian farmers and businesses.

I strongly believe that Serbia’s strong partnership with the EU will help to speed up the improvement and market development in the agricultural sector. The EU has some of the world’s highest standards when we talk about food quality, sustainable farming and methodologies for growing of agricultural products in general. Therefore, hand in hand with the economic aspect, measures for improvement should be directed also towards promotion of sustainable development for the benefit and wellbeing of all citizens.

4. Can you tell us how agricultural development contributes to economic stability of smaller municipalities in Serbia?

Agriculture is the most important sector for the countryside and secures around 20% of jobs. Its development helps smaller municipalities increase “attractiveness”, as it prevents migration and secure all necessary services for the people living there.

Economic stability at the state level starts at the local level. When local farmers are supported to increase their production, when they are encouraged to invest and produce more, the effect of that is directly felt at the national level and wider.

Therefore, one of the EU’s main objectives is to recognize a need for very concrete and practical solutions of small agricultural businesses in order to improve quality and quantity of their yield.

I have now spent 2.5 years here in Serbia, and I’m very impressed with what I have seen in terms of partnership between Serbian and the EU, and I’m confident that this partnership will thrive and grow even stronger to the advantage for the Serbian people.

5. What are some good practice examples/lessons learned/experiences you can share with us from your country?

Like Serbia, Denmark has agriculture in its DNA. For hundreds of years, the Danish Economy was based on agriculture and fishery. Nowadays, of course the economy has changed, but we still have a highly specialised and efficient agricultural sector. Since the 1990’s we have managed to increase our food production, while at the same time decreasing CO2-emissions related to the food sector.

Danish farmers have for many years worked on models for sustainable agriculture and food production. We have come far, but we are not there yet. We need to learn from each other and we need to work together.

This is why I’m happy to see how the partnership between Danish and Serbian agricultural experts, businesses and farmers has increased in the past years. Because only by learning from each other and come up with best practices will we find solutions on

how to green the agricultural sector and by that also making the food that we eat safe. 

It is also very important to point out that sustainable agriculture is not only an environmental question, but very much an economic one. Having a sustainable approach means that you invest in methods that both lower emissions and your costs – while also allowing you to increase your output. I think it is exactly this kind of innovative thinking that both Serbia and EU

countries need more of.

Source: europa.rs