About 100 agriculturers from Kosovo and Metohija arrived yesterday at the 86th International Agricultural Fair, and as many as those, including the students of the Agricultural Secondary School from Lesak, will arrive tomorrow.
This is a traditional meeting where agriculturers from the southern province in Serbia have the opportunity to see innovations from the domain of their work.
“I am glad and I am honored and pleased to host and welcome our dear guests from the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija this year as well,” said the Executive Manager for Integrated Marketing Communications and a member of the Executive Board of the Novi Sad Fair Jelena Marinkovic Radomirovic, M.A. “I can freely say that the arrival of the guests from Kosmet has become a tradition that is significant both for us and for them. I am sure that at the Fair they will see a lot of new things, exchange experiences and improve their business through innovation. We will do our best to continue to be good hosts, that our guests bring many positive impressions and joys from here because, basically, that is what the Fair is about – a lot of attractive things and good energy, and I am sure that next year we will meet again at the Agricultural Fair in even greater number.”
Farmers from Kosovo and Metohija come to this fair with the support of the Novi Sad Fair in order to improve their knowledge and share it with their colleagues.
“It is a great pleasure to be on such a significant event where you can see what the new and current achievements in the field of agriculture are and then use them,” the Assistant Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija in charge of economy, agriculture and rural development, Zoran Bojovic, PhD, said. “As the Government of Serbia and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, we are here to help the farmers to get what they need. In the next ten days, a public procurement of 200 million RSD will be announced for the purchase of agricultural machinery. The documentation has been prepared, and in the next month, additional support is planned for the agriculturers from Kosovo and Metohija. It is our duty to help them, to provide them with the conditions for a quality and content life, so that they can work and earn.
Last year, the Government of Serbia distributed 450,000 seedlings and irrigation equipment worth about 80 million RSD to agriculturers, and, according to Bojovic, the state will continue its support program.
“We are grateful that we visited this fair and it is good for us, as we are able to see innovations regarding agricultural machinery, but also to exchange experiences with people who are dealing with this business,” a farmer from Priluzje, Branislav Vuksanovic, said. “Maybe in some future period I will apply to a competition to get mechanization, because I have not decided yet.”
The family Vuksanovic is from the place Obilic and has been engaged in agriculture for decades, dealing with tillage and livestock farming. There are currently 14 members in the household and they do not want to leave their long-lasting homeland where they grow wheat, corn, clover, bulls.
“We are intensively dealing with agriculture and we have never stopped production, not even during the bombing, nor before the war,” Veljko Vuksanovic is proud, adding that his ancestors were engaged in agriculture like him and the children continuing the tradition. “We like to see all the advanced technology in agriculture offered here, because we do not have such opportunity in Kosovo and Metohija. We can make a living from agriculture, but we need help in order to achieve better results.”
