Vesna Stojanović Aleksić
Tijana Tubić
Stanislav Zekić, Bojan Matkovski and Žana Kleut
By acquiring the conditions for the usage of the pre-accession funds of the European Union, concretely the instrument for rural development (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance in Rural Development – IPARD), The Republic of Serbia (RS) will have a chance to improve the position of its agricultural farms and the conditions of its rural areas. Agriculture is specifically important for the economy in RS, and the rural population makes up almost one-half of the population, which additionally enlarges an interest in these funds. In addition, the objective of the research is to identify the effects of the usage of the IPARD funds on the development of the rural areas, respectively the socio-economic progress of the rural population. A qualitative descriptive analysis on the basis of the empirical data was used. The basic conclusions are that, thus, structured funds will have a limited impact on the reduction in the development inequalities and the achievement of the parity living conditions between the rural and the urban areas. Namely, the dominant focus of the IPARD funds on the investments in agricultural farms and enterprises, and not in rural households, limits the level of their impact on the rural development in RS.
Aleksandra Bošković
Nemanja Lojanica
Nemanja Karapavlović
Ljubica Komazec and Marko Aleksić
Disturbing media pictures of the deterioration and disappearance of villages in almost all parts of the Republic of Serbia (RS), as a consequence of insufficient progress in the implementation of the paradigm of the rural way of life, desirable and necessary for any community and any economy, are an alarming call to every subject of the society to do whatever they are entitled to and capable of to stop these unfavorable processes. The potentials of a small rural community in RS to survive and develop for its own benefit and for the benefit of the society as a whole have studied in this article. Bearing in mind the fact that relevant social documents have their significance and role in all social processes, but are not a sufficient precondition for their improvement, the authors surveyed and interviewed the local population in the Velebit village about their attitudes, potentials, needs and limitations regarding the establishment of and their permanent involvement in organic agricultural production necessary for the village to survive and improve its economic and social position. The research results show that the inhabitants of the village of Velebit are interested in remaining in the countryside and setting up organic agricultural production, but they need assistance, both advisory and financial, as they lack sufficient capacities for it.