PGI sjenica cheese in Serbia

Abstract

Sjenica sheep cheese is produced in the south-western municipality of Serbia. The production of both sheep milk and cheese takes place in small households. The primary characteristics are that it is produced from fresh sheep milk without thermal treatment, and grazing is the dominant part of the animal diet. This kind of production is vital for the prevention of depopulation in this severely underdeveloped region. A significant amount of agricultural subsidies are spent on cheese production. Our analysis shows that the PGI product outperforms its reference product (fresh cow cheese) in terms of price and net results, and is under-represented in overall export potential due to significantly lower volume of production. Regarding environmental indicators (food miles, carbon, blue water and grey water footprints) the PGI product substantially outperforms its reference product, calculated at farm level. Even though there is a higher labour intensity and generation of more jobs for the local community for Sjenica cheese, the average turnover per employee is significantly lower because of the structure of farms/firms. Sheep farming employs more younger workers than older ones, but educational attainment is close to 0, which is a strong barrier for further FQS development. Finally, production levels of the PGI value chain are price takers in both value chains, but at the level of milk producers, bargaining power is much stronger for the reference product. On the other hand, wholesale and retail have stronger bargaining power than the production section.