Association of Dairy Producers of Gradiška municipality (UPMG), which gathers more than 60 local producers, is marking its 10th anniversary.

Miroslav Kalabić from UPMG said that around ten producers were in the founding board and that all dairy producers from area of Gradiška municipality joined soon after that. He added that they have regular meetings where all members of the Association discuss current issues and events related to farmers and that is how they are building trust.

UPMG makes it easier to local producers to communicate with institutions, companies and associations.  

Cooperation and support of USAID/Sweden FARMA II project resulted in significant increase of amount of produced milk.

Producers also want to take a step forward in processing and production of milk.

"Main message to producers is to start thinking about partial finalization of their main product – milk into cheese, yoghurt, butter, fruit yoghurts, etc. We simply need to start offering other products and make it a practice. That is the only way for us to be competitive in the EU market, because we already have quality," said Momčilo Gojković, adviser of the Association.

Dairy producers from Gradiška are faced with challenges like all other producers in dairy industry across the country. However, positive trends from the ground indicate that this sector is making progress and that local producers are ready to meet the EU standards, USAID/Sweden FARMA II project stated.