The products of Stado Moje are recognisable in Vojvodina and Belgrade
The Amaks Dairy in Mošorin is an excellent example of the development of the entrepreneurial spirit and how to influence rural development, but also a good example of how a clean dairy produces safe and high-quality dairy products. This dairy is also of exceptional importance to the development of the communities in which it operates, where it collaborates with more than 300 producers.
The Ministry of Agriculture will this year focus on young farmers. Last year you independently came up with the idea of hiring young people and giving them an incentive to remain in the countryside. Can you tell us more about that?
– After many years working in the dairy sector of the Republic of Serbia – I am a former owner of the Kikinda Dairy Industry Ltd. and later the Niš Dairy JSC, which was then Serbia’s third-largest dairy – in mid 2015, after selling the dairy in Niš to Imlek, I decided in the village of Mošorin – the village with the largest number of dairy cows and raw milk in Serbia – to start producing milk and dairy products, mostly with a daily programme (pasteurised milk, yoghurt, sour milk, sour cream, cream curd, fresh cheese etc.).
The entire investment was implemented in less than nine months and the dairy started operating on 11th April 2016. The dairy currently cooperates with over 300 producers from the village and surrounding settlements. They recognise in the dairy, already at this point, after just a year of operations, stability and the possibility for the further development of their agricultural holdings.
Around 30 villagers from Mošorin and the surrounding area are currently employed at the dairy itself.
What are your future plans? Do they relate to expanding production in that vicinity or possibly implementing similar projects elsewhere in Vojvodina and Serbia?
– The dairy currently processes approximately 20,000 litres of raw milk per day, and due to its portfolio of products (daily programme – perishable products) we have mainly oriented sales towards the markets of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the city of Belgrade, where our products are already recognised under the brand STADO MOJE (HERD of MINE).
Our priority in the coming years is to develop our raw material base, by educating milk producers and making them capable of competing in an open competition following the abolition of excise duties on the import of milk and dairy products, as well as working on the quality and recognisability of our products, as well as the high quality of the local Brand formed by domestic milk from farms in our immediate surroundings.
At the same time, our company also deals in the production of liquid microbiological fertiliser BACILLOMIX SPECIJAL, the development of which we plan to work on in the coming years.
The dairy currently cooperates with over 300 producers from the village and surrounding settlements
Why did you decide to develop dairy livestock in particular; what are the prospects like in other areas of agriculture?
– I’ve been in the dairy industry since the start of my working life. Even during the period of my studies in Belgrade, I recognised the development of primary agricultural production and the production sector it supports as one of the few sectors where we can remain on our own and independently develop our economy, while at the same time developing our local communities and villages, which throughout history have been the most stable and resilient part of the community and society.
With the current agricultural budget and the regular payment of premiums to agricultural producers, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture’s current policy of subsidising agricultural producers, I think that livestock and agriculture as a whole has a realistic opportunity to develop in the coming years.