Apples from Topola heading for Russia – Cherries and sour cherries to be bought out this year as well

(Illustration) In addition to growing apples and plums at the family orchards, Marko Djordjevic (35) from Topola has decided to start buying out and selling this fruit. For this purpose, he recently founded a cooperative with four of his friends. Over a thousand tons of this fruit, primarily apples, but also plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots, pass through here each year. They also plan to build their own cooling plant and expand the range of fruit they handle. This young team is not lacking in ambition and persistence.

Fruit traders are busy throughout the year. All three cooling plants that the cooperative rents in the village of Trnava, near Topola, are full of apple crates. They are ready to be loaded in trucks and head for Russia. At the moment, around 100 tons are ready to be packed.

– This year, we will also start buying out cherries and sour cherries, so the season will start as soon as May – Marko says. – At the moment, I mostly buy out apples.

In 2019, the cooperative DBM Agrar supplied local store chains with around 300 tons of peaches, and a certain amount was exported. In cooperation with around 100 producers of fruit from the village in the Topola area, more than 1,000 tons of apples for the local and the Russian market were provided as well.

– This area is well known for its orchards. The climate is favorable and nearly every household grows some variety – Djordjevic says. – The problem is that most producers mostly work on quantity, not on quality. In buying out fruit for a foreign market, however, each fruit has to meet certain quality standards. It is extremely expensive to have a whole truck full of fruit be sent back due to not meeting those norms. That's why it's important for local producers to work on improving the quality.

The cooperative says that they want to build their own cooling plant. They hope for favorable credits which will make this possible.

Seasonal workers

In the harvesting season, the cooperative hires 15 subcontractors who work in the field and pack the goods, and with at least 100 producers, they have constant cooperation in the buyout of fruit. They rent three cooling plants of 100, 40 and 30 tons. The current purchasing price of apples is 50 dinars.

ZEMLJORADNIČKA ZADRUGA DBM AGRAR TOPOLA

DBM Agrar

cooperative

Marko Đorđević

apples

plums

peaches

nectarines

apricots

cherries

sour cherries

construction of a cooling plant

buyout of fruit

seasonal workers

apple farming