EDUCATION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS INTENDED TO IMPROVE FARM OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Having in mind that rural areas occupy the greatest part of Serbian territory, where agricultural production represents the basic source of income, development of this sector is of great importance not only for local community, but also for entire Serbian rural area. At the end of previous decade in developed European countries it was promoted a model of rural development which assumes multifunctional nature of European agriculture, as well as its development role in economy and entire society. In the first decade of this millennium Serbia has made decision to develop the same concept. By possession of adequate training for utilization of scientific and research methods in identification of local community advantages and disadvantages, as well as for priorities' determination and strategic plans' creation, representatives of local communities will be able to contribute to better and faster development, as well as to a higher quality life in their own rural areas. Education program designed for agricultural producers aims to improve knowledge of registered farm holders (and their family members) in field of business and management. Specific objectives of the training are to increase sales of goods and services in domestic and foreign market, to increase competitiveness in a particular market, to achieve higher profits, to create new jobs and improve living conditions in rural areas. In this paper there are shown the results of the mini-projects that have been implemented by The Institute of Agricultural Economics - Belgrade in the 2006- 2008 period. Those were special educational projects in agriculture and rural development, whereas extension activities were concentrated onto three topics: farm management, support of rural development and improvement of small farms. Implementation of the first and the third project took place on the territory of the South Banat County, while implementation of the second project was conducted on the territory of the Belgrade city communes. By detailed analysis of needs to solve current problems of sustainable agriculture and rural development, there were identified priorities related to investments, strategic planning and tourism. Given the complexity of the programs implementation, educational activities were aimed at a number of holders or members of their registered farms. The dynamics of implementation of projects included introduction and discussion with a number of farmers, and afterwards formation of small group of educational programs users, preparation and making of materials in written and electronic form, a series of theoretical lectures and in the end determination of the result of joint work. 3 Evaluation of projects was related to the determination of the level to which were achieved set objectives, defining the implementation of projects in accordance with the plan, as well as the impact of educational activities to promotion of knowledge concerning business and management. Evaluation of projects is done from 1 to 5, as the highest grade.