SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECT "LIME TREES & HONEY BEES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DANUBE MICROREGION"

The City of Novi Sad organized a closing conference in the City Hall, presenting the results of its project "Lime Trees & Honey Bees for Sustainable Development of the Danube Microregion". The project’s Lead Beneficiary was the City of Novi Sad, while the funding was received by the European Union and Austrian Development Agency in the framework of the program "Socio-economic Development of the Danube Serbia region". The project value was €222,658.88, out of which €171,915.01 was the grant amount.

The conference included speeches from prof. Marijana Dukić-Mijatović, PhD, Manager of the Local Economic Development Office, Milan Polak, representative of the Austrian Development Agency, Miodrag Čupić, representative of the Beekeepers Association "Jovan Živanović" Novi Sad, prof. Nada Plavša, PhD , representative of the Faculty of Agriculture, and Predrag Radišić, PhD, representative of the Faculty of Sciences.

- We worked hard on this multidisciplinary project which has brought numerous benefits to the City, scientific research institutions and beekeepers associations. We organized trainings, equipped laboratories, provided better working conditions for associations, as well as honey bee colonies and hives for young beekeepers. Our intention has been to support our new Fruška Gora lime honey brand and its market distribution. We will continue to actively prepare projects and cooperate with the Austrian Development Agency and EU funds – said prof. Marijana Dukić-Mijatovic, PhD. Milan Polak from the Austrian Development Agency praised all the project participants and partners and said that the project has been recognized as important and in line with the Danube Strategy priorities.

- With this project we proved that the Fruška Gora lime honey has all the values that we had initially claimed and representatives of a number of associations received the product quality certificates. We consider that the Fruška Gora lime honey is the only honey in Europe with more than 60% of pollen share, which is our chance to market the product in the world market – said Miodrag Čupić.

The 18 months of project implementation included trainings for beekeepers, students of the Agricultural School and the Faculty of Agriculture, beekeepers associations have been equipped with computers and furniture, 250 honey bee colonies have been procured, as well as 250 hives and 25 packs of supporting equipment for beekeeping beginners. Moreover, the project included a study visit to Graz, as well as the control of production process and quality control of the Fruška Gora lime honey. Educational institutions have been equipped with laboratory equipment for pollen analysis and examination of bee diseases. In addition, the Faculty of Sciences has been accredited for its honey pollen analysis method. Comprehensive promotional activities have contributed to greater visibility of the Fruška Gora lime honey in the market and have promoted beekeeping as a potentially profitable and environmentally-friendly business.

Novi Sad, 5th February 2015