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Modern agriculture rapidly improves productivity, yet it also pays high price for overconsumption of natural resources and energy use which is not environmentally friendly. To shape a sustainable agricultural future, the Western Balkans countries (WBC) need to tackle key challenges such as pollution, climate change and biodiversity threats. Circular agriculture is a concept that promotes the sustainable use of existing agricultural inputs and products, thus representing a driver of the future agri-food system. The paper considers basic drivers, moving from linear to circular agriculture, and summarises the implications of various performance indicators that drive circular agriculture development in Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. Based on the performance indicators, selected WBC have favourable conditions for switching from linear to circular agriculture and approach the EU level. Besides the indicators relevant to the northern part of Serbia, where «agrokombinats» are changing the general picture of input consumption, all other indicators illustrate favourable conditions for circularity. Technologically, Macedonia is leading in its use of ICTs for circular agriculture. The adoption of sustainable technologies for precision agriculture in the region will optimise the input use and increase productivity. The promotion of smart farming, based on the ongoing debate on the future design of the national agriculture policy to CAP harmonisation and use of EU funds to support farmers who have already taken steps towards digitalisation for circular agriculture, is a must for the region. Serbia has positive trends in organic agriculture, which is a wider accepted concept of the circular approach. However, there is still a need for an integrated farming system to minimise the use of direct energy from harmful resources, as well as fertilisers and pesticides for crop production. Albania shows the best performance in terms of circular agriculture, yet there is a space for improvement regarding socioeconomic aspects. Shifting from extensive labour to autonomous force is needed.

In the Republic of Macedonia, the circular economy would boost country’s agri-food sector competitiveness and help create new business and market opportunities for the farmers and processing industry. Public benefits that could accrue from the bio-economy perspective has become compelling. Nevertheless, the question arises: “At what level are we? Does the country go toward the development of the circular agriculture or not?” By using conceptual model of BPEIR (Behaviour - Pressure - Effect - Impact - Response) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, the author introduces a comprehensive analysis and quantitative evaluation of the level of Macedonian circular agriculture development. This paper discusses the fact that the Republic of Macedonia shows positive trends regarding circular economy disciplines in agriculture, given by natural geographic conditions and traditional agricultural production.

The adoption of new of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in farming activities becoming crucial for developing countries in order to meet the challenges of rapidly growing populations, urbanization and arable agricultural land declination. Because of it, each farmers’ organization or farmer has to concern their agricultural products and services more towards modernized and ICT related routine. The attempt has been made to analyze the reaction of the Macedonian farmers towards ICTs as a source of reliable and timely information about e-banking, online purchasing/selling, marketing, input and output optimization, increased revenue, remote farm management process etc. Semi-structured questionnaire was used for interviewing 132 semi-experienced and experienced farmers that use ICTs as sample for the research. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistics tool like correlation and Rank Based Quotient (RBQ). The findings showed that farmers stressed the cost of ICTs, lack of training, trust level in the government institutions, and lack of ICT infrastructure are thresholds for ICTs adoption and use in agriculture. This research contributes to understand the adoption and use of ICT, identify the constraints associated with ICT use and propose recommendations towards the improvement of ICTs for agriculture in the Republic of Macedonia.

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