Serbia to Get First Biodistrict in Kolubara District

A biodistrict is an area where local producers, institutions, associations, tourism organizations, hospitality owners and customers come together – in order to most efficiently use the potentials and manage the local resources. Whereas that concept of sustainable development is already implemented in the world, locally, this has been a topic that has been discussed in the past year. Serbia is now on its way to becoming the first country in southeast Europe in which a biodistrict is to be formed.

In Serbia, organic production on a more serious scale has been developing in the past fifteen years. Even so, organic production is done on barely 1% of arable land.

– We sell in Serbia, although we have had the opportunity to export, but we simply didn’t have sufficient quantities – says Gordana Soskic of “Biofarma Soskic plus” in Taras.

– That is why it is important to associate. For example, some producers would produce carrots, beetroot, celery, and we would grow those cultures which are the most suitable for our area, which give the best yields, and then we would join forces and present ourselves on the market – said Pavle Djordjevic of “Organela” in Valjevska Kamenica.

In the past year, incentives for organic plant production have increased 250% compared to the basic incentives in plant production to 31,500 dinars per hectare.

– We are stimulating hectares two and a half times compared to conventional production. This is also shown by the fact that compared to 2012, when we had around 1,200 organic producers, we now have around 7,000 – says Vedrana Ilic, the assistant minister of agriculture, forestry and water management.

On the first day of the new year, the German Organization for International Cooperation (GIZ) is launching the Green Economy project which will help small and medium enterprises in Serbia to meet a large number of standards and regulations of the European Union in green transformation.

The first biodistrict in Serbia is to be formed in the Kolubara District.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Poljoprivredni fakultet Beograd

GIZ Beograd

Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Water Management

Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade

German Organization for International Cooperation

GIZ

Biofarma Šokšić plus

Organela

Pavle Đorđević

Tomislav Knežević

Gordana Šokšić

Vedrana Ilić

Vladan Bogdanović

Taraš

Valjevska Kamenica

biodistrict

organic production

incentives

green transformation

digitization