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

Handbooks on growing fruit for export presented

Belgrade, 10 April 2007

State Secretary of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Danilo Golubovic presented today new handbooks on growing, gathering and transporting fresh fruit for export purposes.

Danilo Golubovic

Golubovic told a press conference at the Serbian government that the brochures will help fruit manufacturers in Serbia to produce more quality fruit and sell it at higher prices in foreign markets.

He named seven publications on the production of fruit, namely the handbook on growing raspberry, black and red currant, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, peach, sweet cherry varieties, as well as two more titled “How to Determine Optimum Time for Apple Gathering” and “Plant Growth Regulators”.

Golubovic said that some 239,000 hectares of land in Serbia is used for planting fruit, which is 4.6% of total agricultural land, or 5.6% of total arable surface.

According to Golubovic, the largest part of fruit grown in Serbia is processed and exported, but that is not a profitable way of marketing fruit any more, since fresh fruit is far more in demand and much more expensive, for which the cost of production is much less.

According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management fresh fruit worth $26.6 million was exported from Serbia last year, which is an increase against 2005 when this export was worth $19.7 million, said Golubovic, and added that at the same time the deficit in fresh fruit trade was $67 million, due to large import of bananas and other southern fruits.

Remer Lane

Export Advisor Remer Lane at the Serbian Entrepreneurship and Development Project (SEDP) which is being financed by the USAID, and with whose help the handbooks were published, said that the handbooks are adapted to climate conditions and land in Serbia.

These handbooks will offer agriculturists the opportunity to get acquainted with production of different kinds of fruits which are more in demand on the market, said Lane.

He said that soon a work book will be published as well which is intended for financial planning and can be used by agriculturists to establish potential of profit before engaging in production.

The author of five handbooks is Professor Courtney Weber of Cornell University in New York, and four have been written by Professor Mirijana Bulatovic-Danilovic from Michigan University.