Year in, year out, Serbian strawberry producers face the same problems throughout the production chain: In the fields, in storage, in marketing and in sales. For that reason the Serbian government decided to establish a “Working group for strawberries”. This body will consist of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Trade. Also, representatives of the Research Institutes and Faculties will take part in this working group. The third pillar of this assembly will involve associations of producers and cold storages. The aim of this group is to analyze the current situation in this sub sector with special attention to the critical points in the production chain: from propagation material to sales.
Open questions that arise every year are repurchase conditions and repurchase prices. It is unclear if this working group will produce strategic documents for the improvement of production and market of this strategic fruit for Serbia. This is not the first attempt to form such a body. There have been similar attempts in 2018 and 2019 too. But, unlike the previous exertions of the Ministry of Agriculture to resolve challenges in strawberry production, this is the first time such a body assembles all relevant stakeholders: decision makers; scientific experts and producers.
Source: www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl