Serbia Organica’s Roadmap for Establishing Bio districts in Serbia

by Ivana Simić in Event Calendar, Innovation, News 12 March, 2025

After just under 2 years since the beginning of the process of setting up a system for establishing biodistricts in Serbia, as an innovative tool for the development of organic production, Serbia Organica can boast of numerous achievements along the road.

Driven by the vision to contribute to strengthening sustainable local development by implementing a territorial development approach that involves the inclusion of all local actors, i.e. the synthesis of the components of each Bio district (agriculture, environment, economy, society), we began this mission in mid-2023.

A “Bio district” is a geographical area where farmers, the public, tourist operators, associations and public authorities enter into an agreement for the sustainable management of local resources, based on organic principles and practices. The aim is to maximise the economic and social potential of the territory. Each “Bio district” includes lifestyle, nutrition, human relations and nature considerations. This results in local agricultural production that is appreciated by consumers and hence has a higher market value. (European Commission, Brussels, 25.3.2021 COM (2021) 141 final).

Bio district accelerates the development of organic production, strengthening local communities and local economic development, offering a fundamental Food Transformation Systems in Serbia , enabling the potential of development of areas based on organic production.

Each of Bio-district is based on the principles of organic agriculture: (the principle of health, the principle of ecology, the principle of fairness, the principle of nurturing and care), environmental protection, improvement of social, economic and cultural development of the area it encompasses, and therefore we are guided by a clear vision that biodistricts are one of the most important factors on Serbia’s path towards the transformation of food systems.

Steps on the road

After comprehensive analyses and assessments of suitable areas for a pilot Bio district in Serbia, along with an excellent response from local actors, we selected the Kolubara region (central part of western Serbia) in mid-2023 and began intensive work with local actors on establishing the first Bio-district in Serbia, but also in Southeastern Europe, relying on the Methodology of the International Network of Biodistricts/Ecoregions (IN. N. E.R.), adapting it to local circumstances and context.
We created the visual identity of the Biodistrict and protected it as intellectual property.
We held numerous trainings and workshops with participants from the Kolubara region during 2023.
We held three conferences – two in Novi Sad, in May 2023 and May 2024, and in December 2023 in Belgrade at the Faculty of Agriculture, where we presented the concept of the biodistrict and its participants to the general public and the academic community.
We organized the Open Organic Farms Days of the Kolubara Biodistrict.
The first official-formal body of the Kolubara Biodistrict in the making was established – the Promotional Committee, in May 2024, at the organic farm Organela, Valjevska Kamenica;
We have set a unique methodology for the establishment of all biodistricts in Serbia, which envisages that all biodistricts in Serbia will be branches of Serbia Organica, which has made us recognizable and unique among all biodistricts in the world.
After establishing the first structure bodies of the Kolubara Bio-district in May 2024 we laid the first foundation stone of the Kolubara Bio-district in the village of Tolić, near City of Mionica, on the Sretenovic farm;
Soon, recognition by international authorities also came, when the Kolubara Bio district became part of the biodistricts/ecoregions map of the International Network of Biodistricts/Ecoregions, when Serbia Organica was invited to present the Kolubara Bio-district at the International Congress of Bio districts in Portugal.
At the end of July 2024, in the city of Idahna-A-Nova in Portugal, we presented the Kolubara Bio district among participants from 5 continents and aroused great attention and interest not only for the Kolubara Bio district but also for Serbia, precisely as its best ambassadors;
We were also invited to present the Kolubara Bio district at an International conference held in Sardinia in November 2024. On this occasion, Serbia Organica also signed an Agreement of cooperation with the International Network of Ecoregions;
From the fall of 2024, the Kolubara Bio district began to set its strategic goals and founded its working groups, which will be the basis and guidelines for its further development, and from which the Action Plan and the Business Plan for the next 2 years will soon emerge.
The Kolubara Bio district had its first joint appearance at the Ethno Food and Beverage Fair in Belgrade in November 2024.
To learn from the best cases, we will organise a study visit to the first Bio-district in Italy – Cilento, founded in 2004, in April. Cilento is located in the southernmost part of the Campania region, about 150 kilometers from Naples, and surrounded by the Amalfi coast and its under UNESCO protection.