SME′S FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISES IN FUNCTION OF RURAL AREAS DEVELOPMENT

In the Strategy of SMEs and entrepreneurship development in Republic of Serbia up till 2008, special attention is paid to development of familial mini, small and enterprises in the field of food industry, as a basic factor of production restructuring and intensifying of agriculture and rural areas development. Their founding and development should be based on row materials, comparative advantages, identified chances on the market and orientation towards economically efficient production programmes. The programmes for buildings small capacities of food industry in villages (primary rural settlements, rural centers and centers of rural communities), individual or connected through business with larger production systems, are a great chance for production diversification and more intensified development of agricultural husbandries and professionalization of the agricultural vocation. Apart from functionally enabling of rural areas: by building and revitalization of economical and communal infrastructure, medical centers, educational development, educational, consulting and business centers, plant modernization and building of capital objects as a condition for strengthening of rural husbandries and amelioration of working and living conditions in a village, a demographic revitalization is necessary so that the worth of all forms of cultural values and rural traditions could be acknowledged. Yet, not all branches and groups of food industry have the same significance for the development of rural areas, especially concerning the ecological aspect because of the direct and indirect influence on the pollution of living environment. That means that the development of SMEEs in food industry in rural areas should be based on the integration of interests and aims of agricultural producers, industry, services and other activities with the protection of living environment in rural areas according to the standards of ISO 14000.

Key words: SME′s, food industry, agriculture, rural areas, living environment