The "Strawberry Days" event was held yesterday in the village church's yard, a manifestation that has been gathering producers and lovers of this fruiting species for eleven years. Unlike previous years, when the most beautiful fruits and best plantations were chosen, this year's exhibition was of a revival character, and besides the smaller exhibitors this year there was also a noticeable number of visitors.

Adverse climatic conditions, as well as reduced strawberry production, led to the presentation of their fruits at this year's "Strawberry Days" for only about fifteen exhibitors. Most of them are not happy with this year's harvest, but on the other hand they say that the price is much better than the previous years. - Given that it was cold, and in some parts the harvest failed, but we expect to return the next part at least, or to fully compensate this year. On the other hand, it can be said that this year's price is excellent - says Milos Janićijevic from Gredetin, who mostly sells his products for the Russian market, while a smaller amount ends at home.

Ljubomir Petrovic from the village of Kru?je says that this year's production of strawberries is marked by bad weather conditions, but that the harvest is nevertheless still solid.

- This year's harvest was affected by the weather, first of all the cold, which has severely damaged the flowers. Although I can say that the harvest is solid. The price varies greatly, this year the weather conditions were decisive, but we certainly do not guarantee production. In the previous years, it was a low price, so many plantations were destroyed. I have reduced my plantation from two to 1, 2 hectares - says Ljubomir.

In spite of the very bad year, the Senga Sengana strawberries, the most cultivated variety in the area of our municipality, did not suffer significant damage, but other strawberries froze over 50%, said one of the exhibitors, Časlav Petrović from Mali Drenovac. - As far as price is concerned, the farmer is never satisfied. The price of 115, 120 dinars for Sengana is acceptable. However, a good part of the income goes to the harvesters, who ask for 2000 to 3000 dinars per day. We are not financially in the situation, and we are not provided with staffing so that we can make some products from strawberries, so it is mainly sold in raw condition. Processing strawberries go mainly to our market, while consumer first class go to Russia, for which we get an extra price of 200 to 250 dinars. However, in order to do this we need serious production and a lot of investments - said Časlav, who has 50 acres of land under the strawberries, but says the labor deficit is considered to lead to abandoning production.

Producer's estimates agree with the experts, pointing out that in some open-air plants, the strawberry emission was recorded even up to 80%. According to Dragoslav Cvetkovic, professor of fruit growing at the Agricultural School in Prokuplje, in this totally bad year for the berries, production was held only under greenhouses and where the strawberry was protected. In a region that was once famous for growing strawberries, somehow, the production of this fruit is coming to an end, says Professor Cvetkovic. - The number of manufacturers seems to be decreasing from year to year. The reason for this is the departure of a young cadre, that is migration of the inhabitants from the village to the cities. In the village, there are mostly old-fashioned households, some 60-70 years old, so there are plenty of abandoned areas that are not being processed. Thirty years ago, there were no households that did not have at least ten ares under strawberries, but now in villages, manufacturers can be counted on fingers.

Professor Cvetkovic believes that some kind of serious production should take place in our municipality, because the climatic and land conditions in this area are among the most suitable in Serbia, especially for the cultivation of Senga Sengana. - This area is also suitable for other strawberry varieties, but they are seasonal. These are table varieties that can be used for fresh sale, while they are not suitable for processing as Senga Sengana, because they have a reduced amount of dry matter, so a greater quantity is needed to achieve the same effect. It is necessary to return to the production of Senga Sengana, because I think that the time comes not only for strawberries, but also for other fruiting species, which have more and more customers in the foreign market - says Cvetkovic.

In addition to the Senga Sengana, which was the dominant strawberry variety, at this year's event, several table species were also exhibited, among them roksana and asia, while the pupils of the ?umatovac Agricultural School at their booth exposed albino and clerie varieties grown in hydroponic conditions.