Sustainability of Small Farms in Serbia: A Comparative Analysis with the European Union

Abstract

Throughout the EU, small farms have varying degrees of importance, which points to the need to analyse the role of small farms. This study, in addition to EU countries, includes Serbia, a candidate country for EU membership. This study aims to provide an overview of agriculture’s structural characteristics by creating an Index of Agricultural Structural Characteristics (ASC Index). The analysis was carried out at the regional level, which provides a more detailed overview of the structural characteristics of agriculture in the EU and Serbia. The results indicate several regional differences in the EU along north–south and west–east divisions. Serbian agriculture is predominantly made up of small farms and corresponds to the southern model of European agriculture. In terms of the west–east division, Serbian agriculture also corresponds to the structure of Central and Eastern Europe countries (CEEC), with which it shares a historical heritage of a centrally planned economy. Changes in Serbian agricultural policy must be directed toward regions with unfavourable structural characteristics. Special attention should be given to small farms in cases where there is potential to improve competitiveness and where there is a good basis for improving the social sustainability of rural areas.

Rural Typology of the EU Enlargement Process: Serbia in Focus

“…In this research, the focus is on the results of the cluster analysis. The model of rurality within the factor analysis was presented in the research by Jurjević et al [34]. The factor scores of that model represent the input variables of the cluster analysis, and additional statistical tests were conducted to verify the obtained results of the rural typology.…”

“…The characteristics of Cluster 1 in terms of the structure of agricultural holdings and the resource structure indicate that this is a predominantly southern model of agriculture. According to Jurjević et al [34], EU agricultural policy makers officially recognized two models of European agriculture-one southern, one northern-and the main feature of the southern model is small farms. Namely, the average size of agricultural holdings in Cluster 1 is 8.3 hectares per holding, with 9.1 hectares per annual unit of work in agriculture.…”