Agriculture in Serbia

There is a total of 3,475,894 hectares of used arable land in Serbia, comprising 67.12% of total arable land available (including land under forest). Agricultural production is mostly present in northern province of Vojvodina on the fertile Pannonian Plain (45% of all used arable land), and the southern lowlands adjacent to the Sava, Danube and Great Morava rivers.

There has been a sharp decline in agricultural activity since 1948, when almost three-quarters of the population engaged in farming, to the present one-sixth. It is estimated that around 1.1 million people in Serbia (15.70% of total population) is employed on agricultural farms, with around 530,000 being employed in farms all-year long (as of 2018). As of 2018, there is a total of 564,542 agricultural farms in Serbia, of which the vast majority of 99.7% are traditional family farms.

Overview

Serbia produces various agricultural products, mostly grains, fruits and vegetables which constitute a significant part of its GDP and exports. Serbia is among the top five producers in the world of raspberries (127,011 tons as of 2018) and plums (430,199 tons as of 2018). It is also a significant producer of maize (6,158,120 tons, ranked 32nd in the world) and wheat (2,095,400 tons, ranked 35th in the world). The production of sugar beet (2,299,770 tons) and sunflower seeds (454,282 tons) meets domestic demand for sugar and vegetable oil and permits export of some 180,000 tons of sugar to the European Union.

Fruits

Fruit farms cover 182,922 hectares of arable land in Serbia (as of 2018). The following table gives a preview of prevalent planted fruit species by area and achieved production (as of 2018):

Grains

Grain farms cover around 1,702,829 hectares of arable land in Serbia (as of 2018), making 66.22% of total used arable land. The following table gives a preview of prevalent planted fruit species by area and achieved production (as of 2018):

Plants

Not including grains, there are various agriculture culters being planted on over 869,000 hectares of arable land in Serbia.

Among vegetable, watermelon and strawberry plants, 34,190 hectares that are grown outdoors are produced for use in fresh state, 12,083 hectares are grown outdoors for industrial processing and 3,843 hectares are grown in greenhouses.

Wine

Serbia is the 36th largest producer of wine in the world. The country has one of Europe's longest history of viticulture and belongs chronologically to the Old World wine producing countries.

There are 21,359 hectares of vineyards in Serbia (as of 2018), producing 198,183 tons of grapes annually (as of 2014). The majority of production is dedicated to local wineries.

Major varieties include the Belgrade Seedless, Prokupac, Sauvignon, "Italian Riesling", Cabernet, Chardonnay, White and Red Burgundy, Hamburg, Muscat, Afus Ali, Vranac, Tamjanika, Krstac, Smederevka, and Dinka.