Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia has great agricultural potential

Gospodjinci, 11 May 2006

A delegation of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality presented today to farmers and representatives of cooperatives in the village of Gospodjinci near Zabalj the experiences of the Netherlands in the development of agriculture.

This delegation is on a visit to Serbia at the invitation of Serbian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Ivana Dulic-Markovic. Dutch Minister of Agriculture Cees Veerman said that Serbia has great agricultural potential, very fertile land and an excellent climate, but that the key question is whether it wants to fully use that potential and adjust its production to market demand.

The State Secretary of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that although the Netherlands is one of the smallest EU countries by size, it is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products, with a total annual value of €60 billion.

Veerman said that due to the small amount of arable land the Netherlands specialised in production of flowers and vegetables, but that it also pays great attention to production of meat and milk.

He stressed that Dutch farmers started listening with more care to the "voice of the market" 15 years ago and started producing what is in demand.

Veerman told Serbian farmers that they should cooperate with each other as much as possible, develop cooperatives and other forms of joint work and listen to the demands of the market. He also told them not to be only producers, but agricultural entrepreneurs as well.

The talks also touched on the EU joint agricultural policy, trends in the European agriculture and possible presentation of Serbian agricultural products on the EU market, which consists of 480 million consumers.

Representatives of the Dutch and the Serbian ministry's delegations will also visit late today the greenhouse Glozane in Glozane, for whose realisation part of the funds were secured in cooperation with the Kingdom of Holland.