Razvojni resursi i perspektive razvoja prehrambene industrije na teritoriji Jablaničkog okruga

Abstract

In planning its future development, the Republic of Serbia will have to consider the issue of revitalization of industry in its strategic approach to economic development. It is especially important when it comes to the devastated regions like the region of South-east Serbia is. For this statement, the current status of the economic development capacities of the Jablanica County are very good example. The former industrial leaders went in to a bankruptcy a while ago. On the flip side of the coin, the remaining big companies have been privatized with dramatically decrease in the scale of production and in the number of employees. The unemployment rate in this region is among the highest in Serbia. This fact significantly contributes to the “brain-drain” and other negative demographic flows from this region. The textile industry, recognized as a former driving force in the region, doesn’t exist anymore. The other industrial branches like chemical, metal, and food processing industry, that significantly reduced their business activities, are in the very similar situation. The abandoned factories and huge supply side in the workforce market are the leftovers of the ex-industrial hub in the southern Serbia. The likeliness of the revitalization of abandoned industrial capacities is rather low at the moment. Given the existing local resources it seems justifiable to focus the future industrial development around branches that utilize these local resources. Observing from the aspect of workforce, such strategic orientation should be considering the labor-intensive industrial branches and the reduction of aforementioned, high unemployment rate. The best development potential, considering the aspects of workforce, capital intensity and resilience is in the food processing industry. The investments in this sector are expected to have high ROI rate, to employ many people in the short turn and to create the environment for future development. This paper aims to explore and prove the direct linkages between the development of food processing sector and the reduction of unemployment rate, poverty reduction and stopping negative demographic flows from the Jablanica County.