OPPORTUNITY FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EU PROGRAMMES IN

SERBIA
Nikolina Petrović
Agriculture is an important field of industry sector in Serbia with shares of 11 % and total GDP of
40 %. Serbian economy faced many problems in the past, such as process of transition, NATO
aggression and the World economic crises. Those negative effects had caused many problems such
as high unemployment, social tensions, degradation of the environment, lack of innovation and
good practice, slow local and regional development, especially in rural areas. As a pre accessing
country to EU Serbia is allowed to get financial support for projects oriented to empowerment of
rural development. The paper presents current state of agriculture, problems of ddevelopment in
rural areas, future trends, successful projects run under IPARD and LEADER + programme and
its effects on improvement of food production, growth of employment and social inclusion of
vulnerable groups in rural areas.
Key words: agriculture, rural development, IPARD, LEADER+, Serbia