Serbian strawberry growers are staying on top of domestic retail price scams, with the help of their mobile phones.

Growers in the Vranje region have managed to boost prices from the initial offer of CSD 30-40/kg to a record CSD50-60kg for best quality by keeping informed of the pricing situation in other regions.

Dragan Arsic from one of the region’s larger producers, Dubnica, said many growers were dissatisfied with retail buyers delaying payments from various subsidies.

“This time we did not give in and accept their promises, instead we got information by SMS and knew exactly how purchasing transactions were proceeding in other parts of the country.

“No beating around the bush anymore. This technology works for us peasants too,” he said.

Milan Zlatanovic from Katun has also availed himself of SMS technology to follow market trends.

He said supermarket buyers started putting pressure on local growers to bring down prices of strawberries after an influx of strawberry shipments from Macedonia. But he resisted, assured on the superior quality of his products.

Stevan Jankovic, of production and processing company Jagoplod, said the sector’s commitment to modernising production methods would hold it in good stead in developing exports, while efforts would be needed to restore trust between growers and domestic retail buyers.

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