AVAILABLE AGRICULTURAL AREAS AND OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE OF HOLDINGS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

The subject of research in this paper is the analysis and presentation of data on agricultural holdings, the structure of available and utilized area. The main goal is to determine and explain more comprehensively and in detail, by using appropriate methods, and based on available data, the condition of utilized agricultural area and its characteristics by utilization categories and ownership structure of holdings. The importance of this research arises from the fact that the results on utilized agricultural area can be used to adopt appropriate measures and undertake certain activities in land and overall agricultural and rural policy related to sustainable utilization, arrangement and protection of agricultural land and more balanced integrated development of rural areas, as well as to find better solutions in the field of utilization, ownership sector and conditions of agricultural area management. © 2021 EA. All rights reserved.


Introduction
Starting from the fact that the data on the structure of the agricultural holdings play a key role in implementation and monitoring the agricultural policy of the European Union (EU), The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter: the Office) planned, organized and conducted the "Agricultural farms structure survey (hereinafter: the Survey) in 2018" The survey was conducted on a sample that included 121,070 agricultural holdings. It was funded from the budget of the Republic of Serbia and from the pre-accession funds of the European Union, within the IPA 2016 project (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance, 2016). The survey is a nationally significant, organizationally and programmatically very comprehensive activity of the Office in the field of agriculture. The obtained data will serve for the creation of the national agrarian policy, and for providing the basis for the functioning of the system of agricultural statistics. Applied instruments, coverage, features and standardization of concepts and definitions are in line with the recommendations of the World Programme for the census of Agriculture (UN-FAO), the European Parliament Regulations on conducting the Farm Structure Survey and Survey on Agricultural Production Method (Regulation [EC] No 1166/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19. November 2008, on farm structure surveys and survey on agricultural production methods; Regulation [EC] No 1200/2009, Regulation [EU] No 715/2014), Eurostat methodology and valid domestic regulations. Besides the agricultural census, the Survey is a key research that collects internationally comparable data on the funds and structure of agricultural holdings.
An important segment of the analysis of the collected data is the analysis of available agricultural land by categories of utilization and the ownership structure of holdings in the Republic of Serbia, in 2018. The results of such an analysis are intended for the wider scientific and professional public, with the desire to expand agro-economic and statistical analysis of the utilization, arrangement and protection of agricultural land in Serbia -especially by municipalities and areas (Đorđević, at al 2011). The presented results can be significant indicators by which the state and local government will be able to define the problems of agricultural activity more adequately and accordingly plan and make appropriate decisions and take appropriate measures for development, both at the local and state level (Petrović, Miladinović, Novakov, 2007) .

Materials, methods, goals and significance of the research
The subject of research in this paper is the analysis and presentation of data on agricultural holdings, the structure of available and utilized area. Main goal of this research is to determine and explain more comprehensively and in detail, and based on available databases, professional literature and legislation, using appropriate methods, the condition of utilized agricultural area (hereinafter: UAA) and its quantitative and qualitative characteristics -in total and by types of agricultural holdings (hereinafter: AHs) -family agricultural holdings (FAHs) and agricultural holdings of legal entities and entrepreneurs (AHLEEs), by statistical regions and lower statistical units of data grouping (districts and municipalities). The justification of such a defined goals stems from the knowledge that the current tendencies and the current situation in the management of agricultural area in general, and especially arable land and areas under orchards and vineyards (Todić, 2019), as production-significant utilization categories of agricultural area, are considered sporadically, without critical consideration of responsibility of their owners and/or users.
Implementation of such a defined basic research goal indicates necessity of more detailed and continuous study of the causes that led to the reduction of available agricultural land and especially its better and more important production categories of utilization (Tomić, Njegovan, 2013).
The importance of this analysis stems from the possibility to point out to the scientific and professional public, competent state institutions, owners and/or users of agricultural area, the need to utilize, arrange and protect agricultural area in Serbia in accordance with the principle of sustainability (Trivić, 2019). The significance of this research stems from the fact that the results of the analysis of utilized agricultural area can be used to adopt appropriate measures and undertake certain activities in land and overall agricultural and rural policy (Bogdanov, 2007) related to sustainable use, arrangement and protection of agricultural area and more even integrated development of rural areas (European Commission, 2012), as well as to find better solutions in the field of utilization, ownership sector and conditions of agricultural land management.

Results
The starting point and backbone of all the observed parameters is precisely the structure of agricultural holdings AHs in Serbia. The results show that there were a total of 564,542 AHs in Serbia in 2018, of which 562,895 were family agricultural holdings (FAHs), only 1,375 agricultural holdings of legal entities (AHLEs) and 272 agricultural holdings of entrepreneurs (AHEs). It can be concluded that the total number of agricultural holdings is dominated by FAHs (99.71%). AHLEEs are minor in number (only 0.24% and 0.05%), but this group has a significant share in UAA and a large average area of property, so it can be concluded that they are significant production and economic entities in Serbian agriculture. However, at the same time, their participation in the NUAA is relatively large.  The structure of available land per utilization categories in Serbia is strongly dominated by UAA (67.12%) -which makes a total of 72.2% of available agricultural land together with NUAA (5.60%). It is followed by woodland (18.77%) and other land (8.51%) ( Table  3). If we take into account the significant differences in the categories of available land by region, it is desirable to look at this structure of the UAA and NUAA and by districts. There are also significant regional differences in the representation of woodland by districts (Pantić, Živanović Miljković, 2010). Areas covered by woodland comprise 18.77% of the total AL in the Republic of Serbia. At the level of the defined areas, the share of areas covered by woodland in the total AL ranges from 0.07% (North Banat District) to 39.58% (Zlatibor District). However, in relation to the above-mentioned average indicators for Serbia, regional differences in the structure of AL by utilisation categories point to the following statements: First, the dominant share of the UAA in the total AL is characteristic for all four statistical regions, with the representation of the UAA in Vojvodina Region being significantly above (79.39%), and in all three regions in central Serbia the representation is relatively uniformed and significantly below the national average and ranges from 55.26% in the Belgrade region, 60.93% in the Region of Šumadija and Western Serbia and 58.44% in the Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia; Second, the difference between the total AL and UAA indicates a significant representation of one or two of the three individual utilisation categories, namely: • other land comprises approximately one third of available land in Belgrade region (28.41%); • other land is significantly represented in the structure of the AL of the Region of Vojvodina (10.92%); • woodland area comprises 30.55% of AL of Šumadija and Pomoravlje; • cumulatively shown categories of woodland (23.91%) and NUAA (23.91%), comprise about one third of the available land in the Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia (Table 4.) A significant aspect of the analysis of AL by utilisation categories is also the analysis of the relationship between UAA and NUAA by the legal status of holdings (Lovre, 2013   If we take into account the size of AHLEEs property and their large share in the total AL, the following can be concluded: AHLEEs have at their disposal even 186,138 ha or 64.20% of the total NUAA in Serbia, which indicates the need for a detailed analysis of the management of agricultural land owned and utilised by this group of entities (Ševarlić, 2015).

Discussions
The results show that there are significant differences between the three ownership subgroups of all holdings, and they are reflected in the large disproportion of their representation in the total number of holdings and the total area of the UAA. From this point of view, all AHs can be classified into three relatively homogeneous groups of holdings by size of the property -small ("less than 5 ha"), medium ("5-20 ha") and large ("more than 20 ha"). The analysis of the ownership structure according to the share of the defined three collective groups of AHs indicates certain characteristics, as follows: -AHs with smaller propertyis a group in which the dominant part is concentrated, even 71.74% of the total number of AH in Serbia, and they utilise only 23.24% of the total UAA; -AHs with larger property comprise 3.96% of the total number of holdings, and utilise 41.62% of the total UAA.
Regional analysis of the ownership structure of FAHs indicates significant differences in the ownership structure in four statistical regions in Serbia, which are reflected in the following statements:  The general conclusions of the regional analysis of the ownership structure between collective groups of FAHs in Serbia are: The distribution of AHLEEs and their UAA by regions in Serbia points to the following observation:  , Year 68, No. 2, 2021, (pp. 291-305)

, Belgrade
Without land is 109 AHLEEs of the total listed AHLEEs (1,647) or 6.62%, which is a significant percentage in relation to the total number of AHs (in the Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia 20.01%, and in the Region of Šumadija and Western Serbia 33.94% of the total number of AHLEEs without land). In all regions, AHLEEs with a property of more than 20 ha utilize the largest part of the land available to this group of holdings. The analysis of the ownership structure of the AHLEEs in four statistical regions in Serbia, according to the representation of three collective groups of holdings with a certain size of property, indicates the following regional differences:  AHLEEs with smaller property comprise 28.71% of the total number of holdings in this group, and their share in UAA is only 0.15% (excluding land 6.67%). These holdings dominate in the number of AHLEEs, and are minor in the total UAA of AHLEEs holdings in three regions; AHLEEs with a medium size of holdings comprise 18.21%, and their share in the UAA is only 0.58%. AHLEEs with larger holdings comprise 47%, and their share in the UAA is even 99%. However, in the category of holdings larger than 100 ha it is 29.57% of the total number of AHLEEs and they utilize 96.76% of the land of this group of holdings. Large holdings dominate in the total of UAA and are differently represented in the total number of AHLEEs in regions. AHLEEs by number represent a small group of holdings (only 1,647 households or 0.29% of the total number of AHs), but have a significantly higher share in the total UAA (16.10%) and are the dominant category by number of holdings and UAA in two groups of holdings with larger properties (over 20 ha and over 100 ha). In the group of holdings with smaller properties, AHLEEs comprise 0.12% of the total number of holdings in this group, and their share in UAA is only 0.11%. In the group of holdings with medium-sized property, AHLEEs comprise 0.22%, and their share in UAA in this group is only 0.26%. In the group of holdings with larger property, AHLEEs comprise 3.58%, and their share in UAA is as high as 38.41%. However, in the category of properties larger than 100 ha there is 29.57% of the total number of AHLEEs and they utilize 96.76% of the land of this group of holdings.
AHLEEs are relatively small (1,647), but have a significant average size of property, an average of 364 ha of utilized property and even 479 ha of NUAA; 779 ha of woodland. AHLEEs have at their disposal even 186,138 ha or 64.20% of the total NUAA in Serbia, which indicates the need for a detailed analysis of agricultural land management in this group of entities.

Conclusions
The aim of this paper represents a realistic view of economic strength and type of agricultural production on holdings in Serbia, in order to obtain a quality, analytical and comparable basis for analysis of structural characteristics and economic parameters of AHs and conceptualization of agricultural policy measures, but also for comparative analysis with AHs in EU countries and neighboring countries [Simonović, 2004], as well as a base for scientists in further scientific research on the structural characteristics and economic performance of agricultural holdings in Serbia. Systematization of data and analysis of the obtained results led to a number of important conclusions about this segment of agriculture in the Republic of Serbia. Some of the basic conclusions can be singled out in a brief review of the overall results obtained.
According to the obtained results in the Republic of Serbia in 2018, there are 564,542 agricultural holdings, 562,895 family agricultural holdings, 1,375 agricultural holdings of legal entities and 272 agricultural holdings of entrepreneurs. It can be concluded that