Challenges at starting an agribusiness in the hilly-mountainous regions of southwest Serbia

Abstract

To identify the concrete challenges faced by potential entrepreneurs in agribusiness, a field research was conducted using unstructured interviews to interview 113 farmers from the municipalities of Novi Pazar, Raška, Sjenica, Tutin, Nova Varoš, Prijepolje, Priboj and Ivanjica. The received answers were classified into five groups: infrastructural conditions, access to public services, farm enlargement, market access and availability of funding sources. To solve these problems, the authors propose, among others, investment in infrastructure, change in the taxation of agricultural land, reforming agricultural cooperatives and designing new financial instruments according to the needs of farmers and local specificities. The role of modern cooperatives, where active farmers, land owners and investors will contribute their knowledge and capital, are especially emphasized by the authors.