A study tour to Holland was organised from May 30 – June 6, 2010 as a part of “Pesticides and Pesticide Residue Management in Nisava District Rural Area” project.

The aim of this visit was to learn about current positive practice in agricultural production, especially related to organic food production and modern principles of pesticides and pesticide packaging management, so that the newly gained knowledge could be applied in Serbia.

During this tour, participants visited University of Wagenigen Research Centre (one of the leading Universities in Europe when it comes to organic food production) and its experimental land, as well as several institutions in charge of monitoring and controlling food production and environment, and farmers dealing with organic and conventional agricultural production. All these parts of production chain are well connected, the consequence of which is improvement of agricultural products quality.

As far as the farmers are concerned, they are organised through associations that handle ongoing issues and protect their interests, and there are great communication and experience sharing among them. The ones wishing to sell their products must have food quality certificates, and in order to sprinkle their own products, they also need a licence issued by a Ministry in charge. In order to renew the licences, each year farmers are obliged to attend different trainings. This is how they are introduced with all the news and legislation changes related to agricultural production. In order for a product to be sold as an organic one, it needs to have a certificate from an official institution. Product certification is done through random sampling each year, so producers need to pay attention to product quality. Because of good results and increasing environmental responsibility, organic production methods are more and more used in conventional production, too.

During their visits to farms, participants learned about principles of sustainable agricultural production. All the farmers use GLOBAL GAP standard, meaning they produce according to principles of Good Agricultural Practice. According to that standard, control of critical production points guarantees to final buyer that the product is safe for health, hygienically correct and that environment was taken care of during its production.

This is how pesticide use is controlled. Also, pesticides are kept in a safe way in special premises on farms. Since large buyers demand from the farmers to keep the official records on pesticide use, all the pesticide amounts on the market can be traced and monitored.

Pesticide packaging is washed in a certain place after the use, that liquid is further used in spraying process, and empty boxes are stored with the rest of communal waste as harmless.

Project team believes that organic food production in Nisava District is possible, but farmers need to be informed about this through creation of possibilities to start new business as well as further trainings.