POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTS ISSUES IN ORGANIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN R. OF MACEDONIA

Abstract

Due to the presence of rural regions clean from industry and pollution, the usage of own inputs in the crop production, Republic of Macedonia has favorable pre-conditions for development of organic agriculture. Аs a result of that the certified area under organic production increased from 226 ha in 2005 to 3239.88 ha in 2016, while the number of farms from 50 increased to 562, for the same period. But despite satisfactory conditions for the development and increase of the organic production in RM, very experienced vegetable growers with long tradition of cultivating several crops there are still a number of issues that obstruct its development and need careful attention and effort by all stakeholders in the process of organic production in order to overcome them. Among these limitations primarily are included: lack of organic seeds and other inputs, lack of machines for
cultivation of the soil, lack of markets for selling the products, inappropriate application of agrotechnical measures (cultivation, crop rotation, plant protection, fertilizing, irrigation, harvest), disconnection of farmers in rural areas, poor infrastructure to the city markets, failure to meet market and consumer requirements regarding quality, quantity and continuous supply of organic plant products, lack of information for the new technology in the organic production, inadequate transportation, lack of storage facilities and very important package, economic crisis, etc. Although some of the plant protection products and fertilizers for organic production are present on the market, the reproductive material (seeds) still remains to be the largest constrain for organic vegetable production. These limitations are probably the reason for low participation of organic
vegetable production in the overall organic scheme. In 2016 there are only 93.17 ha (in conversion and organic), that is only 2.87% of the total organic production. As future steps for accelerating the development of organic production in Macedonia must be considered: connecting of the farmers that have a common interest in associations, cooperatives, in order to supply cheaper input materials, group certification, support of trainings, information technology and so on.