The economic impact of the agricultural input supply chain on small-scale farming in Serbia

The article analyses the economic impact of different input supply chains on small family farms in Serbia. The authors chose a rarely analysed topic of relations between agricultural producers and suppliers. The analysis aims to identify the inputs necessary for the production process of small farms and their availability on the Serbian market. The aim is to increase the potential of small farms to select suppliers that either do not have established supply chains or sufficient budgets. To assess the supply of small farms, we used different MCDM methods, which allowed us to discover the supply chain's best choices. A database of 550 surveyed small farms was used, and various criteria and alternatives related to input supply chains available to small farms were defined. The results show that the input suppliers are the most dominant form of supply. It was observed that yields per hectare depend on the price, quality, and availability of inputs, which can ensure the economic stability of small farms. Identifying these effects can be useful because it can provide support to small family farms in Serbia to improve business operations.