The meeting was organised so that the raspberry growers can inform the Committee Chairman about the many problems they face. Committee member Nenad Kitanovic also took part in the meeting.

Stating that the Raspberry Growers Union has seven thousand members and that raspberry production is the livelihood of 300 thousand Serbian citizens, the raspberry growers’ representatives pointed out that the raspberry should be declared a strategic product and that the state should show more interest in addressing the problems the raspberry growers have been complaining of for years, by involving the state authorities. They also drew attention to the problem of importing planting material, unsustainability of the raspberry buy-out price dictated by the cold-storage owners, value added tax problems and presentation of VAT via persons who are not producers so that the buyers could keep part of the funds.

They suggested that the authorities should implement suitable measures to control the work of the cold-storage owners, that part of the subsidies should be paid to institutes which would be in charge of the production of certified seedlings to be distributed via raspberry growers associations, as well as found a development bank which would, instead of commercial banks, provide more favourable loans for the development of raspberry growing. The raspberry growers’ representatives opined that by accepting their suggestions Serbia could raise raspberry production to 200 thousand tons which would contribute to the revitalization and development of villages and secure a decent livelihood for a great many raspberry growers.

Committee member Nenad Kitanovic, sour cherry grower, pointed out that the problems besetting raspberry and sour cherry growers are more or less the same. He suggested that the state should take part in the mediation between the producers and cold-storage owners so as to conclude three to five-year raspberry buy-out contracts, which would ensure an appropriate price and a safe delivery to the next byer.

Committee Chairman Aleksandar Senic informed the raspberry growers’ representatives that he is well aware of the raspberry producers’ problems and that the Committee will hold a sitting on 25 June, to be attended by Minister of Agriculture Goran Knezevic, dedicated to, among other things, the raspberry buy-out problems. He also pointed out that the Committee has a control function so that it will inform the relevant ministry and other state authorities tasked with controlling the planting material, sold-storage owners’ business dealings and application of tax regulations, about the raspberry growers’ problems. Aleksandar Senic announced that he would propose a new approach to stimulating fruit production in the course of the deliberations on the budget rebalance and other regulations in the sphere, and that he will urge the state to activate its storage capacities next year and buy a certain amount of raspberries under a guaranteed price thus affecting the stability of the buy-out price and the cold-storage owners’ attitude. He will also propose the adoption of a law on anti-hail protection and do his utmost to make sure the raspberry be granted the status of strategic product of the Serbia agriculture, to ban the uncontrolled import of seedlings and re-export.