Agricultural and Rural Development In Serbia: Governance, Policy Cycle And Coordination

Agriculture plays an important socio-economic role in Serbia in terms of contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment, especially for almost a half of the population living in rural areas. However, Serbian agriculture and rural areas face many socio-economic, political and governance problems. The paper aims at analyzing governance and coordination of agricultural and rural development (ARD) in Serbia. Research is based on an extensive literature review and primary data collected through a questionnaire survey performed in summer 2013 with representatives of 120 public, civil society and international organizations. The survey focused on problems regarding ARD policy cycle (design, implementation, and monitoring & evaluation) and multi-stakeholder and cross-level coordination. The Law on Agriculture and Rural Development sets agricultural policy objectives and provides a general rural policy framework. Many public (national, regional and local), civil society and international organizations are involved in the ARD arena. Lack of appropriate human resources is a problem in all three phases of ARD policy cycle. Coordination is ineffective at central as well as local level due to, among others, inadequate vertical and horizontal cooperation and information dissemination mechanisms. Serbian agricultural and rural policy requires fundamental reforms at all levels and in the whole policy cycle. More attention should be given to rural development. Participation of civil society organizations and the private sector in policy design and evaluation should be enhanced. Building the capacity of human resources dealing with ARD policy is a priority. Improved policy governance and coordination should be operational and by fostering complementarities between stakeholders across administrative levels