The General Manager of MK Group Mihailo Janković was a participant in the panel on sustainability in agriculture on the second day of the 29th Kopaonik Business Forum. On that occasion, he pointed out that we live in turbulent times, firstly marked by the pandemic, and now by the crisis in Ukraine, and that it is necessary to adapt to new circumstances also affecting the agricultural sector.
In the context of the importance of digitalization in agriculture, he referred to the difference in annual exports of the Netherlands and Serbia in relation to the area of arable land, saying that only by applying new technologies the Serbian agriculture can generate higher output per hectare and per employee. “With 5 million ha of arable land in Serbia, agriculture accounts for only 7.5% of GDP. The Netherlands export 95 billion euros a year from 1.8 million hectares, so that Serbia exports one tenth of what the Dutch sell to foreign buyers from twice the area, “said Janković, emphasizing that this will not change without modernization and digitalization being conditions for growth, productivity and efficiency.
„The average yields of sugar beet on the areas cultivated by MK Group in the last four years have increased by about 20 percent. If the application of science and new technologies as well as better organization increased the yields of other crops and increased the degree of their processing, it could increase the value of GDP created in Serbian agriculture and processing sector by 800-900 million euros compared to the current GDP of agriculture which is around 4.5 billion euros “, said Mihailo Janković. As an example of the necessary connection between digitalization and investment in education and professional staff, he quoted the Research and Development Center of Sunoko.
Janković added that the “Green Agenda” remains the focus of MK Group: “We remain committed to agriculture, with investments in digitalization and automatic artificial intelligence as well as to proceeding investments in green energy.
