AGRICULTURE AND THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA
The importance of agriculture in a country is determined primarily through food production and ensuring food security. From the standpoint of tourism development of the country, first and foremost requirement is the production of food. Tourism is a direct consumer of agricultural products, thereby encouraging the development of agriculture, while agricultural production is influenced by trends in tourism spending adjusted by changing the existing structure. Cooperatives in rural areas in terms of improving the competitiveness of agriculture production, but also providing other necessary forms and contents for life and work of the rural population are very important. Generally, cooperatives are considered one of the main instruments of implementation of rural development policy measures, including measures that are specifically related to the development of tourist activities in rural areas. The goal of this work consists in determining the connection between agriculture and tourism, the place and role of cooperatives in the development of tourist activities in rural areas of the Republic of Srpskathrough the presentation of good practices.