Analysis of current state and limiting factors for the development of organic sector in Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the current situation and potential for the development of organic agriculture in Serbia. Despite the favourable agri-ecological conditions for the development of organic agriculture, this branch of agriculture in Serbia significantly lags behind the world and European average in terms of the percentage of agricultural land under organic production. The motive for the conducted analysis within this paper stems from the fact that the demand for organic products in the EU has been increasing at a rate of about 10% annually in recent years, which represents a chance for Serbian agriculture. Data sources used are from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia (MAFWM), Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS) and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FIBL) while the basic research method is interview with experts and participants in organic agriculture. The results of the analysis show that the main limiting factors for the development of Serbian organic agriculture are dominance of small and economically weak producers and insufficient consumer confidence in organic products. The path to the development of organic agriculture is in the increased cooperatives activity and the improvement of consumer confidence in organic products.