Harmonization with EU Regulation Regarding Environmental Protection in Livestock Production

Abstract

Environmental protection is one of the key problems in the process of accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union. That refers to agricultural production and livestock production which can be large source of environmental pollution. To prevent that, the EU Nitrates Directive must be implemented in Serbia in the following period. However, the Nitrates Directive implementation is related to numerous organizational and financial problems, especially at family farms with activity in livestock production. In this chapter, the authors presented characteristics of livestock production in the Republic of Serbia (cattle number, number of family farms, characteristics of housing capacities for animals and facilities for manure and slurry storage). The authors presented ways in which manure is stored, as well as the potentials of biogas production. Also, they presented models of livestock production financing, including subsidized credits for agriculture, which can facilitate the implementation of the Nitrates Directive at farms.

Productivity of Serbian milk producers based on FADN data

“…There are also some less known problems which should be solved, such as the relation between selection goals for dairy cows and the way milk price is determined (the problem is described by Ivanović, Stanojević, Nastić and Jeločnik, 2014). According to Nastić and Bekić (2015) Serbian farmers also have to pay attention to Nitrates Directive which is related to Serbian accession to the EU, because the Directive is related to additional investments in facilities for environmental protection.…”