Journal of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, JAFES

ENHANCING ACCESS TO FINANCE OF SME’S: ROLE OF THE GOVERNEMNT

2025-03-27T23:02:46+01:00

There is wide accepted evidence that the SME sector is one of the most important drivers of the economy in each country. The SMEs possibility to develop and to create new jobs becomes a crucial prerequisite for economic growth and development. In addition, many studies and research have concluded that access to finance remains to be a major concern and main obstacle for SMEs growth and development in countries like RN Macedonia. This situation has been deteriorated in past few years by the global economic and energy crises. Therefore, many governments have acknowledged the importance of implementing various policies and programs aimed to support SMEs and their development. Yet, evaluation and impact assessment of implemented government programs in general is lacking and the effectiveness of such credit schemes has not been demonstrated. The paper will examine the efficiency of subsidized credit lines implemented by Development Bank of North Macedonia with a main goal to promote bank lending to SMEs. It will attempt to assess the cost of the Government and the impact on the “supply side” in providing financing for SME sector. The method used for the research is a questionnaire based survey, composed of multiple choice questions and on-site interviews with bank’s officials.

CONTROL EFFICACY OF A NOVEL SUCCINATE DEHYDROGENASE INHIBITOR FUNGICIDE, PENTHIOPYRAD, AGAINST BOTRYTIS CINEREA

2025-05-25T19:24:54+02:00

The goal of this experiment was to study the efficiency of the novel active ingredient penthiopyrad (Fontelis SC) in controlling of gray mold disease in tomato (Botrytis cinerea), a very destructive disease in our country. As a standard, the well-known active ingredient fenhexamid (Teldor) was used. The experiment was conducted during 2019 in two production regions of tomato in North Macedonia, Bogdanci and Dojran. In the untreated variant in the region of Dojran, a very high level of disease severity (73.2% in the old leaves, 84.8% on the stem) was observed, leading to destructive damages in the tomato production. In the region of Bogdanci, significantly lower level of disease severity was observed in the untreated variant (14% on the leaves, 9.2% on the stem). The tested novel fungicide Fontelis SC demonstrated high level of efficacy. In the region of Dojran, the fungicide Fontelis SC provided efficacy degree of 81.9 to 100%, showing significantly better results than the standard Teldor (29.5-86.6%). In the region of Bogdanci, the new fungicide Fontelis SC proved again to be more effective than the standard Teldor. Fontelis SC demonstrated maximum efficacy of 100% on all plant parts, while for the standard Teldor efficacy performance ranged from 86.9% to 88.5%. These results emphasize the need in expanding the range of novel fungicides, in order to provide better results in gray mold disease management.

BIOCONTROL POTENTIAL OF TRICHODERMA ATROVIRIDE AND BACILLUS SUBTILIS AGAINST ERYSIPHE NECATOR UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS

2025-05-25T19:27:13+02:00

Powdery mildew of grapevine, Erysiphe necator, is a very destructive grape disease, causing great economic production losses. That is why, regular fungicide applications are required. In recent years, due to the rise of the environmental awareness, alternative methods in controlling various plant diseases have slowly taken over the primacy from the classic chemical control. The aim of these experiments was to study the possibility for biological control of powdery mildew of grapevine with novel biofungicides Vintec (a.i. Trichoderma atroviride strain SC1) and Serenade Aso (a.i. Bacillus subtilis strain QST 713). Experiments were conducted during 2023 in the regions of Demir Kapija and Negotino, on two grape varieties, Riesling and Vranec. In the untreated variant in Negotino region, very high level of disease severity (44.8%) on bunches was observed, which demonstrated the destructive potential of this disease in our country. In Demir Kapija region, significantly lower level of disease severity was observed in the untreated variant (7.6%). In conditions of very high levels of disease severity, both of the tested biofungicides showed comparable and good fungicide effectiveness, above 90% (Serenade Aso – 94.64 % and Vintec – 97.03 %). In the region of Demir Kapija, where the level of disease severity was lower, both biofungicides reached absolute efficacy performance of 100%.