DANUBE BASIN

Dana Bucalo, Svjetlana Janković Šoja1

Abstract

Arable land, in the municipalities of the Danube basin in Serbia, with 77% of participation in the total of agricultural land, has a great influence on the agrarian development. The goal of this paper is to draw attention to the lack of exploitation of the land that is uncultivated or “resting” and to the possibilities of its exploitation as a factor of increase in employment in the agricultural sector by means of analysis of arable areas. Therefore the regressive analysis of the variables “arable land”, “uncultivated or resting land” and “persons employed in the agricultural sector” in the municipalities of the Danube basin is observed in the paper in order to indicate the possibilities of a more complete exploitation of land with the purpose of employment.

Keywords: the municipalities of the Danube basin, the arable land,

employment in agricultural,the linear regression model

Introduction

Serbia has agricultural resources that are insufficiently exploited and therefore have a significant economic potential for agricultural and rural development. Maximal utilization of available resources is conditioned by both natural and socio-economic conditions that dictate the development of certain production branches and regional distribution of agricultural

production (Maletić and Popović, 2011). In recent years, great importance

is given to the development of agriculture and rural areas, all complied with European Union requirements. The approach to this region as a single macro-region, would help in solving many problems, such as overcoming the regional differences in economic performance, which

1_{Dana Bucalo, Teaching Assistant, e-mail: [email protected], Ma Svjetlana} Janković Šoja, Asistant Professor, e-mail: [email protected], Faculty of

would determine the requirements of integrated development. Therefore, in September 2009, the Government of the Republic of Serbia formed a working group for cooperation with the EU in the Danube region, which brings together representatives of relevant departments and the Executive Council. Thus, Serbia was officially included in the EU Danube Strategy, which plans to finance various projects, referring the economics, traffic, environment and cultural tourism, in the countries of the Europe's largest river. As an international river, the Danube is constantly in the center of interest on the local and international level, and therefore there is no need to emphasize how great the potentials of the municipalities of the Danube basin are, especially when it comes to agriculture. Out of a total of 2850 kilometres of this river, 588 km passes through 26 municipalities in Serbia, Figure 1.

Figure 1.Municipalities of the Danube basin

Source:personal representation.

The total area of the municipalities in Serbia since 2004 has been 11840

km2, while previously it was 12130 km2. A change in size occurred in

2004 when a newly formed municipality Surčin was separated from the municipality of Zemun. The area of the municipality of Zemun was decreased from the 440 km2 to 150 km2.

1.Sombor 4.Bač 13.StaraPazova 2.Apatin 5.BačkaPalanka 14.Zemun 3.Odžaci 6.BačkiPetrovac 15.Novi Beograd

7.Beočin 16.Stari Grad 8.Novi Sad 17.Palilula 9.SremskiKarlovci 18.Pančevo 10.Inđija 19.Grocka 11.Titel 20.Smederevo 12.Zrenjanin 21.Kovin 22.BelaCrkva 23.VelikoGradište 24.Golubac 25.Kladovo 26.Majdanpek

Table 1.Percentage of the total area of the municipalities of the Danube basin

Municipality Area km2 % Municipality Area km2 %

Zrenjanin 1327 11,19 Bač 365 3,08

Sombor 1178 9,93 Bela Crkva 353 2,98

Majdanpek 932 7,86 Stara Pazova 351 2,96

Pančevo 787 6,63 Apatin 350 2,95

Kovin 735 6,20 Veliko Gradište 344 2,90

Novi Sad 699 5,89 Grocka 289 2,44

Kladovo 630 5,31 Titel 260 2,19

Bačka Palanka 575 4,85 Beočin 186 1,57

Smederevo 481 4,05 Bački Petrovac 158 1,33

Palilula 451 3,80 Zemun 150 1,26

Odžaci 411 3,46 Sremski Karlovci 51 0,43

Inđija 386 3,25 Novi Beograd 41 0,35

Golubac 367 3,09 Stari Grad 5 0,04

Source: These data were obtained as the result of author’s calculations

of the original data from the State Statistics of Municipalities in Serbia in the period 1995-2010, by Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade.

Agricultural development is not possible without a strategy to increase employment in agriculture. This would provide income for farmers and thus reduce migration to urban areas. Taking into consideration that of all agricultural areas the arable ones have a great influence on the income of agricultural population, it is significant to analyse the connection between the quantity of arable areas and the employment rate in agriculture.

The goal of this paper is to separate the uncultivated or “resting” land from the arable land, to identify the changes in the quantity of arable land and the uncultivated or “resting” land, to identify the employment rate dynamics with regards to the active population in the agricultural sector, and then to examine their regressive dependence in the municipalities of the Danube basin in Serbia in the period 1995-2010. Note that, in the further analysis, the Municipality Stari Grad is excluded because they do not own agricultural land.

The land resources in the municipalities of the Danube basin Land is an important natural resource and an objective requirement of agricultural production, which is an important sector of any society, regardless of its economic strength, organization or geo-strategic position.

accordance with their natural and economic conditions, including arable land, grassland and ponds, swamps and marshes. The division of land according to the purpose, based on the definition of the Republic Statistical Bureau, is given in Figure 2. The data in the records of

Municipalities in Serbiaare given according to this classification.

Figure 2.Soil structure by its purpose

Source:personal representation.

Out of the total agricultural land approximately 91% belongs to the arable land, while pastures, ponds and swamps account for about 9% of the total agricultural land. Most of the arable land, 77% of it, are fields and gardens, while in the second place of arable land there are meadows with only 6%. One small share of the agricultural land are orchards 2,96%, while the share of vineyards is 1,98% of agricultural land (figure3).

Figure 3.Agricultural land structure in the Danube basin municipalities

Source:personal representation.

It should be mentioned that the areas of arable land also includes the areas of land which has not been cultivated for one or more years, from any

about this are not specially published in the records of Municipalities in Serbia. Since one of the goals of this paper is to determine the possibility of exploitation the uncultivated and “resting” land in the production resource, that is in the arable land that represents a potential for employment, data about this land is separated. In the period from 1995 to 2010, it was indicated that the average percent of this land, from the total of agricultural land in the Danube basin, is about 3,1%.

Based on the agricultural structure of land, it would be interesting to point out the Danube basin municipalities with the biggest and the smallest percent of the specific kind of agricultural land. Municipalities with the biggest percent of pastures, ponds and marshes are: Beočin 22%, Golubac 20%, Zrenjanin 16%, Bela Crkva 15%, Majdanpek and Sremski Karlovci13%. Municipality Stara Pazova has the biggest percent of arable land and gardens 97%, while Majdanpek has the smallest percent of 36%. Meadows, generally, take up a small percent of agricultural land, maximally up to 5% per municipality, but municipality with the biggest percent of meadows, by far, is Majdanpek, 42%. Then there is Kladovo with 22%, Golubac with 17% and Sremski Karlovci with 12%. Municipality Grocka with 20% is leading as the municipality with the biggest percent of orchards in the total of agricultural land, all the remaining municipalities have less than 8% of orchards. Municipality of Sremski Karlovci has the biggest percent of agricultural land is covered with vine yards and it is 14%. The biggest average percent of the area, which is uncultivated and “resting”, is in the municipality of Kladovo about 12% and Smederevo about 7%. Considering the analyses that have been done so far and they involved the data, municipalities that stand out are: Stara Pazova and Kladovo. Stara Pazova with the highest percent of arable land without the uncultivated and “resting” areas, and municipality of Kladovo with the highest percent of uncultivated or “resting” land (table 2 and 3).

The changes in the quantity of arable land in the municipalities of the Danube basin

A special attention is given to the arable areas and their quantity in the municipalities of the Danube basin. Having in mind that, out of the total of the agricultural land, these areas represent the highest percentage of participation (77%), it means that they also have the highest influence on employment in agriculture. It is already emphasised that, according to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, the uncultivated land also