“The Fruit drier managed by the Association is currently in trial mode and next year it will be fully engaged in new packaging and product placement in foreign markets, thanks to the project Garden of Serbia.”

Context: Lack of support to help producers maintain new quality standards

Even though it is one of the oldest industries in Serbia, agriculturalproduction still faces several weaknesses and gaps in its value chain. Producers are constantly facing new requirements for food safety andquality standards in the processing sector yet there is a lack of demonstration centres for training and support for new initiatives.”Garden of Serbia” addressed the common problems of fruit, vegetable, flower and beekeeping sectors related to the production quality, addedvalue, marketing and overall organisational capacities.

Thanks to this project, this region now has two demo centres for fruit drying, newpackaging for three food products, laboratory for honey quality testingand a better promotion of the region’s potential and human resources.

Objectives: Increase competitiveness and employmentopportunities in the agriculture sector andrelated services in the Branicevski and Podunavski districts

Help agricultural producers strengthen their cooperation within the region in order to improve access to regional and international markets. Improve the quality of existing agricultural products and make them more competitive on both the domestic as well as international markets.

Help the producers to develop new products with increased addedvalue so that they can extend their product portfolio and increase their market share.Develop solutions and business plans for packaging, promotion andproduct placement in order to improve marketing towards major agro-food producers.