Serbia has zero tolerance for the production and trade of GMO products and is realizing its potential through the production of organic food, said today the Minister of Agriculture Branislav Nedimović.
He assessed that organic production is a space for development for Serbia.
He stated that the Ministry recently simplified the procedures for conversion from conventional to organic production.
As he stated, in two years, the export of organic food from Serbia has increased by 93 percent, and now we are exporting in the value of 65 million dollars.
The largest export market is Germany with 31 percent, followed by the United States with 13.1 percent.
The Minister said that fertilizer has been provided for the upcoming sowing, that there will be additional quantities in the next three weeks, as well as that Serbia will have a total of 400,000 tons of artificial fertilizer.
He reminded that until two months ago, there was talk that there would be no fertilizer, but now the situation is different.
– We procured fertilizer from the countries of the Middle East, Libya, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan – reveals Nedimović.
In addition to the favorable supply of fertilizers, Serbia has adopted two other measures to encourage agriculture.
The first measure refers to interest-free loans with commercial banks for farmers, with a repayment period of up to three years and a possible grace period of up to one year, while the second is the abolition of 10% customs duties for fertilizers from third countries.
– For example, a farmer from Kuzmin wants to buy fertilizer. He goes to a commercial bank, and we are otherwise in cooperation with 10 banks. You take out a loan, and the state pays interest, and he pays off the rest after the harvest. That is 70 to 80 euros cheaper fertilizer. That means that the state indirectly gives a subsidy – says Nedimović.
In addition, an extraordinary control of the imported fertilizer and its quality was announced, so that in this situation there would not be any kind of abuse and damage to farmers.
– Customs duties have also been abolished. We are helping financially and farmers should not worry in March and April – said Nedimović.
Speaking about organic food, Nedimović explains that food is healthy in Serbia, and the proof is the large export to foreign markets.
– The export of Serbian healthy food to the world has jumped 93 percent in the last two years. 8 years ago, we exported worth 3.5 million dollars, and now over 65 million – says Nedimović.
He found that most were exported to Germany and the United States.
– Germany 31 percent, and 13.1 percent goes to the United States. These are societies that love healthy food. Our goal is to export even more – Nedimović explains.
– And when it comes to soy, Serbian is the healthiest, not GMO. They buy from us because it is not GMO. We also export a lot for the pharmaceutical industry. Hungarian colleagues are asking us for a pelcer on how to return to the previous production, so that they are no longer GMOs – he explains and adds that the Chinese also asked for help from Serbia, due to a disease that Serbia fought 10 years ago.
As Nedimović says, today, Serbia will show how more goods do not stand at the borders, but everything is resolved quickly, and it reaches from point a to point b without any problems.
– We had 600 shipments in the first 26 days of January. We are no longer talking about “Open Balkans”, but we are realizing it – the Minister concluded, Alo reports.
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