Educated and Well-trained Rural Women for Stronger Pelagonija

Trajkova Najdovska, Natasha and Midovska, Marija and Mancheski, Gjorgji and Ristovska, Mirjana and Masalkovski, Ile and Zvezdakovska, Despina and Petkoska, Elena (2022) Educated and Well-trained Rural Women for Stronger Pelagonija. Discussion Paper. Inos Prilep. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Women in Pelagonija believe that their voice is not been heard systematically in a longer period. They are interested in additional training, mainly related to improving their business and farming skills, but they requested a closer mentoring programme that will support their activities.
The organic production is rare in Pelagonija. Less than 1 in 1000 farmers produce or make an effort for organic production, of which almost none women. Main reasons are related to complicated procedure, lack of information, lack of know-how and bureaucracy. Closer and continuous cooperation between academia, local governments’ bodies and farmers is required.
Agricultural cooperation in Pelagonija is weak. Lack of cooperation between farmers (horizontal cooperation or cooperatives), is accompanied by lack of competitive food industry side and buyers (vertical cooperation). The oligopsony market structure is a problem for agriculture in Pelagonija, characterised with small number of byers. The role of various agencies and institutions that are regulating the markets of various products has an important role, but mostly is perceived as distrustful and problematic.
Divided and scattered land and production does not allow for using economies of scale. For some of the land, farmers do not have documentation due to old or non-existent urbanistic plans. In addition, this means unused mechanisation, duplication of costly equipment and inappropriate allocation of resources.
Infrastructural problems are also huge hindering factor for agricultural development in Pelagonija region. Lack of roads, weak or non-existent irrigations systems, continuous problems in electricity and water supply just to name a few. Without basic requirements there is no place for initiating the progress.
State subventions are important driving force, with 80 percent of producers claiming subventions. However, there many issues in the distribution of subventions, such as their dimensioning without any evidence based analysis, delays, technical problems and inefficient distribution, with lack of control and monitoring from the state bodies. All these accentuate the non-market dimension of subventions.
The IPARD programme and other finances’ access are highly welcomed but mainly very distant, especially for small farmers. Starting with issues with the high requirements for official documents, lack of knowledge and lack of time, women believe that the finances are mainly for big projects and big producers and sometimes for newcomers in a region that get on a concession/buy land just to use these funds based on the regional-distribution criteria. Women believe that only direct support can be helpful, accompanied by mentoring and supporting programme.
Data for proper analysis of the situation and for better planning are necessary. Census of Agriculture needs to be performed urgently, in order to have data for any analysis and evidence based decision making in agriculture.
Branding of the region and of some products is can also be helpful, as well as connecting the production with rural tourism. “Mariovo’s bitten cheese”, bitten peppers with garlic, ajvar, home-made pies, white pine honey, home-made jams, and juices from domestic but also wild berries are some of the products that can be interesting for the market. Short live span of the agricultural products and no freezing facilities are problem for most of the farmers. SMEs need to be developed in order for the agricultural products to gain longer life span and more value added in the supply chains.
Finally, corruption and distrust in institutions are perceived as a highest concern of the women In Pelagonija. These are considered as main factors, along with the lack of jobs, as main factors for the extensive immigration from Pelagonija.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Subjects:	Scientific Fields (Frascati) > Social Sciences > Economics and Business Scientific Fields (Frascati) > Social Sciences > Law Scientific Fields (Frascati) > Social Sciences > Political science Scientific Fields (Frascati) > Social Sciences > Social and economic geography
Divisions:	Faculty of Economics
Depositing User:	Prof. d-r Natasha Trajkova
Date Deposited:	09 Jan 2023 09:04
Last Modified:	09 Jan 2023 09:04
URI:	https://eprints.uklo.edu.mk/id/eprint/7607

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