Round table “Enhancement of agriculture – challenges and funding opportunities in the function of quality improvement” held within the JUSK European Quality Week 2015

The conference with international participation – JUSK European Quality Week, with the motto “Quality – Emotion – Inspiration”, was  held at the Faculty of Technical Sciences (FTS) in Novi Sad on 19^th and 20^th November 2015, which was organised jointly by the United Association of Serbia for Quality (JUSK), Belgrade, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad, European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, Information Centre for Business Standardization and Certification (BSC), Novi Sad and European Organization for Quality (EOQ),  Brussels, under OPEN DAYS 2015 local events.

The conference was opened by Prof. Dragan Šešlija PhD, Vice-dean for Science and International Cooperation, FTS and Prof.  Bojan Lalić PhD, Director of the Department for Industrial Engineering and Management, FTS, whereas the plenary on the topic “The role of food safety and food quality in the EU Accession process” was held by László Vajda PhD, former Head of the Department for coordination with the EU at the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary and President of the Working group for agriculture within the Hungarian National Committee of the European Organisation for Quality.

Within the conference, the round table “Enhancement of agriculture – challenges and funding opportunities in the function of quality improvement” was held on 20^th November 2015.

The participants were addressed by Siniša Lazić, Director of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, who while referring to the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance in Rural Development (IPARD), indicated that the European Commission adopted the document defining the support to the inhabitants of rural areas, i.e. IPARD II and allocated EUR 175 million for its implementation. The program was to contribute to the increase of productivity and competitiveness, harmonisation with EU standards, adaption to the requirements of domestic and international markets, as well as diversification and development of economic activities and improvement of quality of life in rural areas.

László Vajda PhD, former Head of the Department for coordination with the EU at the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary, gave the presentation “Support to Quality Policy in the EU (country example: Hungary)” and talked about his experiences related to the Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (SAPARD) when Hungary was in the EU accession process.

Talking about “Sinergy in Agriculture, ICT and Scientific and Technological Development”, Prof. Goran Stojanović PhD, Deputy Provincial Secretary for Science and Technological Development, presented briefly the activities of the relevant secretariat and the capacities of AP Vojvodina in ICT, placing special emphasis on the “Future Internet Enabled Agricultural Applications – FRACTALS” project, under FP7, which was aimed at supporting  ICT SMEs to develop applications addressing the needs of the agricultural sector, and BioSens Institute, Institute for research and development of information technology in biosystems of the University of Novi Sad.

Talking about the “Support of the Guarantee Fund of AP Vojvodina to Agriculture and Rural Development”, Goran Vasić, Director of the Guarantee Fund of AP Vojvodina, presented the credit lines in agriculture, such as credit for purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment, credit for the purchase of agricultural land, credits for women entrepreneurs and women SME owners, credits for work inactive women, credit for assembly silos and the credit line for purchase of biomass processing equipment to produce energy, and emphasised the importance of cooperation of all level of authorities with local self-governments.

Dražen Lovrić, Economic Advisor at the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, while talking about “Regional Development though EU Funds, indicated that Vojvodina established good cooperation with a number of European regions and achieved considerable success with European projects. As examples, Dražen Lovrić emphasised the support of Austria for the Programme for Economic Development of AP Vojvodina, furthermore the “Waterways Forward” project, under INTERREG IV C, in which among the project partners were the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina and PWMC “Vode Vojvodine“ Novi Sad. Dražen Lovrić also made reference to the EU programmes available to Serbia, such as the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), HORIZON 2020, COSME and Danube Transnational Programmes.

Talking about “European Project Preserving the Quality of Environment“, Prof. Saša Bošnjak PhD, Vice-dean of School of Economics in Subotica, presented the “Support to Allergen Free Environment – SAFE”, which was successfully implemented by the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection, City of Sombor and Local Self-government of Baja (Hungary). The project success proved the fact that the project  was included in the HUSRB IPA CBC – Project Catalogue, moreover in the HU-SRB IPA CBC Final Evaluation Report, the project was listed among the 8 examples of best practice in the programming period 2007-2013 out of 200 projects in total, and in the publication “Examples of Good Cooperation” by the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) of HU-SRB IPA CBC, it was listed among the 18 projects as examples of best practice in the period 2007-2013.

Talking about “Sediment as Compost in Agriculture – Challenges and Opportunities“, Prof. Dejan Krčmar PhD,  Department of Chemical Technology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Natural Sciences in Novi Sad, indicated the economic and ecological value of sediment, the advantages of applying sediments in agriculture, as well as the necessity for dredging. As an example, he referred to the dredging of the Jegrička River, within the “Environmentally friendly water management in plain areas” project, which was successfully implemented in the cooperation among the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, PWMC “Vode Vojvodine“ Novi Sad and Lower Tisza District Water Directorate (ATI-VIZIG, Szeged, Hungary), and which was also listed among the 18 projects as examples of best practice in the period 2007-2013 in the publication “Examples of Good Cooperation” by the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) of HU-SRB IPA CBC.