DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES OF AGRICULTURE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA – IPARD III PROGRAM

The aim of the paper is to present the development perspectives of agriculture and rural development in the Republic of Serbia with regard to the possibility of funding from the IPARD III program. The Republic of Serbia has at its disposal a total of 588 million euros within this financial instrument of the European Union in the 2021-2027 program period. The main goals of the IPARD III program are the following: (a) increasing the competitiveness, efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production; (b) mitigating the negative effects of climate change; (c) improvement of the economic position of agricultural holdings; (d) rural development; (e) reducing the depopulation of rural areas and stimulating the employment of young people in rural economies; (f) building efficient public administration in the field of agriculture and rural development in the Republic of Serbia. In the current period, four measures of the IPARD III program have been accredited, namely: Measure 1 - Investments in physical assets of agricultural holdings; Measure 3 - Investments in physical assets, processing and marketing of agricultural and fishery products; Measure 7 - Diversification of agricultural holdings and business development and Measure 9 - Technical assistance. Together with the financial support of the IPARD III program, new funding opportunities are available, namely: (a) within Measure 1 and Measure 3 – development perspective of production and processing in the Fishery Sector; (b) within Measure 7 - development perspectives in the Sector of direct marketing of agricultural and food products, the home-made products as well as the Sector of small-scale services. The authors conclude that the implementation of the IPARD III program enables significant development perspectives, both for agriculture and rural economies, in terms of activating resources that have been underutilized until now. This should enable overall rural development and alleviate the depopulation of rural areas in the Republic of Serbia. The paper uses the following methods: desk research, descriptive method, methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as the method of descriptive statistics.