Serbia: Delhaize Serbia hosts National Food Festival

National Food Festival by Delhaize Serbia as a support to local farmers

On November 29, Delhaize Serbia (DS) hosted the “National Food Festival” at the Belgrade Fair to highlight some of its local partners, and to discuss the latest developments in the retail market. Delhaize Serbia, part of Ahold Delhaize (AD) , is the largest retail chain in Serbia, hosting over 450 stores across the country, providing employment to over ten thousand people and serving more than 1.2 million Serbian consumers every month.

Jan-Willem Dockheer, CEO of DS said that the mission of the company is to increase the pool of local providers of fresh produce. Producing food locally decreases the carbon footprint of transport and helps develop the local economy. “Currently 50% of fresh produce is sourced locally and the intention is to increase that percentage,” stated the CEO.

The first panel “Locally sourced, fresh and of verified quality” featured Jelena Pavlovic, Executive Board member of DS, Joost  Reintjes, the Dutch Ambassador to Serbia, Tomislav Momirovic, Minister of Domestic and Foreign Trade, Ivan Grabez, representative of Ministry of Agriculture, Ilija Djekic, professor of Faculty of Agriculture Belgrade and Goran Blamusa, the biggest watermelon producer in the country.

Jelena Pavlovic stated that DS cooperates with more than 200 local farmers that that deliver fresh products on a daily basis and that the company started cooperation with Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Belgrade to improve the quality of delivered products. The Dutch Ambassador underlined that success of the Dutch agro sector did not happen overnight but it took decades of hard work and cooperation between farmers, private sector and knowledge institutions, the so-called “golden triangle”.

The Ambassador pointed out that embracing new technologies and innovations should be regarded as investments into the future. There are numerous affordable solutions that can increase yields by reducing use of resources and inputs, thereby also increasing the sustainability of the sector. The mobile phone application, developed by the Dutch company DACOM Farm Intelligence, implementing the project in south Serbia, is inexpensive tool for precision agriculture on farm activities.

The Minister of Trade said that in the last decade the export of the Serbian agriculture industry doubled, from €2.1 billion to €4.2 billion. He pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic showed the importance of food security and that the Government will continue its efforts in helping local producers via various incentive models, through the modernization of production and marketing, and by opening new markets for the agriculture products from Serbia.

The second panel “The future of retail” focused on recent developments in the Serbian retail market, particularly the emergence of fast delivery companies such as Wolt and Glovo in the retail sector. DS has been cooperating with these companies whilst also making its own steps into the digital market, through Maxi Online and the Maxi app. The festival finished with a discussion on the efforts DS has made to reduce its climate impact, further developing its share of locally produced goods, as well as through reducing plastic waste. In the coming years DS will continue its efforts in this field by replacing the lights in its stores with more durable lighting and is looking into ways to donate its food surpluses in a more effective and sustainable fashion.

The National Reference Laboratory is “an example of successful cooperation between Serbia and the EU”

Minister of Agriculture Jelena Tanaskovic, together with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, visited the Directorate for National Reference Laboratories (DNRL) in the outskirts of Belgrade, in which €9.7 million euros was invested by the EU in the previous period.

At the meeting with the representatives of the EU Delegation, which was also attended by the Minister of European Integration Tanja Miscevic, Jelena Tanaskovic pointed out that the DNRL is an example of long-term successful cooperation between the EU Delegation in Serbia and the Ministry of Agriculture, and that, with the help of the Union, new development perspectives were opened.

Minister Miscevic expressed her gratitude for the help that the EU provided to Serbia in the previous period through the IPA and dual-purpose funds, through which 74 projects related to food safety in Serbia, i.e. Chapter 12, were implemented in five tranches, in the total amount of €8.5 million. Ms. Miscevic also stated that the EU is the most important foreign trade partner of Serbia, on market of which 55% of the value of exports of agricultural and food products of Serbia ended in the previous year.  

Emanuele Giaufret emphasized that this surplus on the Serbian side reached a historical maximum of €688 million in 2021, while he pointed out that the positive trend in exports continued this year as well.

The head of the EU delegation also pointed out that Serbia benefits significantly from the trade of food and agricultural products with the EU, adding that agriculture is the main sector of the Union's aid to Serbia.

EU technical support for contributing to animal health and food safety in Serbia  

The Veterinary Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture of Serbia received technical support from the EU for the improvement of standards that contribute to the health and well-being of animals, public health and food safety, and the harmonization of Serbian regulations with the legal provisions of the EU in the field of animal health.

The results of the "Strengthening the Animal Health and Welfare System" project, which lasted three and a half years, were presented at the final conference in Belgrade. The State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ms. Dusanka Golubovic, said that the project was significant in many ways, because the goal was "not only the sustainability of animal husbandry, better agricultural production, but also the development of the food industry and the economy as a whole," the EU info network reported. "The food industry producers in Serbia knows why food safety, health and animal welfare are so important, and Serbia is a significant exporter of food to the EU and other international markets," said Sakellaris Hourdas, Head of Operations at the Delegation of the EU.

Poultry training Center opened in Novi Sad

Last week the Faculty of Agriculture Novi Sad opened reconstructed part of the "Agrocampus" dedicated to poultry farming. This is just the first phase of investment since the plan of the Provincial Government is to provide the latest equipment in order for "Agrocampus" to be able to perform research in animal husbandry and other sectors of agriculture, stated the President of Provincial Government Igor Mirović. “The goal is to make this a development-research and education center that we can be proud of," said Mr. Mirović.

According to Mr. Mirović, the recent years have shown that it is important for a country to secure its independence when it comes to agricultural production. Application of modern technologies in food production is of utmost importance thus the significance of "Agrocampus" is even greater. "Agrocampus” will be the place where the latest knowledge and technologies will be transferred to students and agricultural producers, said the President of Vojvodina government.

"This is a big day for the Faculty of Agriculture. With the support of the Provincial Government, which is our long-term partner, we reconstructed and equipped this facility, which is of great importance for the future of the Faculty's work," said the Dean Mr. Nedeljko Tica. As he emphasized, prior to this investment, the Provincial Government and the Faculty of Agriculture invested €1 million in the purchase of modern agriculture mechanization, reported daily Alo.

Serbia lacks clear measures to achieve its energy and climate goals    

The Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan, which is expected to be adopted at the beginning of next year, is not ambitious enough and does not contain clear measures to achieve the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, assessed representatives of civil society at the panel discussion "A year since the opening of the Green Agenda cluster – where is Serbia today."

The Assistant Minister for Green Energy at the Ministry of Mining and Energy, Natalija Lukovic said that one part of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (INEKP) is being reviewed and that a working group meeting to discuss that issue will be held in the coming days. Ms. Lukovic said that INEKP is reviewed every four years and that every two years a report on the implementation of the plan is submitted, so everything is subject to change.

"We will have to monitor the energy situation, what will be the economic trends, in which direction renewable energy projects will develop," said Ms. Lukovic. The Ministry is working on a new energy development strategy until 2040, with projections to 2050, which will be an umbrella document and all other documents will have to be harmonized with it.

How to use food waste for energy

Although Serbia has a problem with excess waste and a lack of energy sources, it still does not use enough waste for the production of energy and biogas. Every autumn, the authorities appeal to farmers not to burn stubble because, in addition to causing fires and endangering their lives and the lives of others, they also reduce future yields. And the harvest residues could be used in another way.

"There is no strategy in place to use the harvest residues from two and a half million hectares of arable land. This could be used to produce 3 billion cubic meters of gas and 7.5 million tons of the highest quality humus to improve the quality of agricultural lands. What we call waste is raw material for someone else," says prof. Dr. Miladin Ševarlić, President of the Association of Agricultural Engineers and Technicians of Serbia.

About 2 million tons of organic waste is thrown away in Serbia annually. It turns into methane in landfills, causes fires and the pollution of the soil, underground water and air, instead of being used to obtain biogas.

"When we talk at this moment about the construction of biogas production facilities, we must keep in mind the fact that these are primarily facilities that help protect the environment, reduce pollution of waste water, soil and air, and in this way we primarily remove organic pollution and methane, which is 25 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide itself", says Dr. Slobodan Cvetković from the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy of the University of Belgrade. Germany, for example, has 12.000 biogas plants.

"Most of these plants use agricultural waste, but also organic waste from households, shops, restaurants and the food industry. It is very profitable. The investment can pay off in three years. Since Serbia has a huge amount of waste that is not collected, it could cover all your gas needs", says Rafael Fitz, Director of WABIO Technology from Munich.

The sugar factory in Vrbas uses sugar beet residues to produce biogas with the application of German Wabio technology. "Wabio technology can use harvest residues from agriculture, sediments from wastewater treatment plants, it can use the organic part of municipal waste, that is, all the food that we throw to rot on the ground today, it can use as industrial biomass," notes Duško Bošković, director of the company "Wabio Investment Holding".

Annually, Serbia throws away 83 kilograms of food per capita, which is 9 kg more than the world average, reports the national broadcaster RTS

No data on state-owned land

The Anti-Corruption Council of the Serbian government stated that it is unacceptable that the Ministry of Agriculture and Cadaster of Serbia cannot deliver data on the total state owned agricultural land for more than 10 years.

In the Report of the Council, the non-transparency of the ownership of agricultural land in Serbia is underlined. It was indicated that the lack of documentation points to the conclusion that something is being hidden from the Council, and therefore from the Serbian public, thus creating conditions for corruption and abuse.

In the report submitted to the government and the Public Prosecutor's Office, it was stated that thousands of hectares of agricultural land in real estate cadasters have “mixed and other forms of ownership” status, which are not in accordance with Serbian legislation.

In the past 10-year period, the alienation of agricultural land without any compensation, which was in the social property of privatized agricultural enterprises and businesses, was not solved. The Council has repeatedly proposed to the government that the illegally expropriated land be returned to the possession of the previous owners, or that compensation be paid at market price.

From the very little available documentation, the Council, as stated, noticed that about one-third of the state's agricultural land was leased, thus generating significantly less income than it could have done. In the report, the case of the company Al Rawafed from the United Arab Emirates, which received ownership and lease of thousands of hectares of land under non-transparent terms, was particularly highlighted.