The long-term weather forecast did not predict that on Sunday evening the temperature would drop to minus five in a large part of Serbia, so the fruit growers were unprepared for the frost that stripped a large part of their crop, Zoran Keserović, professor at the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad, told RTS. .
He estimated that only in the Šumadija region and western Serbia, where 40 percent of Serbian fruit is produced, 200,000 tons of fruit were destroyed.
“These two regions produced 700,000 tons of fruit in 2022. That was the crop projection for this year before the last frost. Now the damage is around 30 percent of the crop and maybe even higher. Late blooming fruit species, plums, raspberries, have died the most “There is a lot of damage in the Subotica-Khorgo region as well as in the surroundings of Belgrade. If the damage is 250,000 tons of fruit, and if we count 50 euro cents per kilogram, that is 125 million euros,” Keserović said.
He adds that in the coming period, we must not rely on long-term forecasts, but must use local weather stations and expert services, to signal producers in time.
There are methods that can be used in protection, some are reliable and some are not. The best protection is the selection of the appropriate fruit species and variety in relation to the given agro-ecological conditions.
The customs administration suspended the priority that fruit growers had during export
Speaking about the export of cherries, raspberries, and blackberries, which he says have a low purchase price of around 2.5 euros, Professor Keserović particularly points out the harmfulness of the decision of the Customs Administration, which invalidated the rule on the basis of which fruit, vegetable and meat producers had priority at the border during export.
According to him, this regulation, which was abolished by the Customs Administration, harms fruit producers, especially early fruit, because that fruit will stay in the refrigerator for two to three days, and it cannot stay that long.
“Strawberry production has ended, blueberry production is underway, where we are experiencing great success. Last year, 31 million dollars were earned from blueberry exports. You can imagine how much damage it will cause, and it is to the detriment of the producers themselves, not the traders,” he concluded. Professor Keserović added that a big problem for strawberry producers is that we do not protect domestic production with timely levies.
