FAO-EBRD Project “Promoting Sustainable Agrifood Value Chains through
Linkages with Tourism”
Proceedings of the National workshop on linking small-scale food
producers to hotels and restaurants
Hotel Aurel, Podgorica
28 November 2018
Table of Contents
1. Background ................................................................................................................... 3
2. Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 4
3. Participants ................................................................................................................... 4
4. Elements discussed......................................................................................................... 5
5. Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................................... 14
Annex 1 ............................................................................................................................... 15
Annex 2 ............................................................................................................................... 17
Annex 3 ............................................................................................................................... 23
Annex 4 ............................................................................................................................... 24
1. Background
Gastronomy and traditional food products play a major role in promoting a country’s national
identity and culture and have become aspects of growing importance in the quality of the
tourist experience. Demand for an authentic food experience is increasing and hotel and
restaurants can promote local cuisine that celebrates their food culture. This can also provide
opportunities for small-scale producers to add value to their traditional and origin-linked
products via direct local sourcing hotel, restaurant and catering (HORECA) buyers. Despite the
important cross-sectoral benefits for tourism and agriculture/food sectors, a number of
mismatched supply and demand factors and the lack of intermediary support that would enable
buyers and sellers to come together limit the inter-sector linkages.
The different factors of mismatch have been identified through a gap review and all
stakeholders and studies converge in recognizing that food safety compliance, registration of
facilities and labelling regulations are the most pressing constraints that prevent most small-
scale producers from linking to the formal market. In order to sell to hotel and restaurants,
producers must be registered and fully comply with the food safety legislation, which has been
harmonized with the European Union as part of the accession process. This also requires
important changes and investment to be made at the production/processing unit.
In this context, under the FAO-EBRD project “Promoting Sustainable Agrifood Value Chains
through Linkages with Tourism”, a national workshop was organized on 28 November 2018 in
Podgorica gathering agricultural and food producers willing to access markets, especially those
related to tourism (boutiques, hotel and restaurants, direct selling to tourists), and
representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development (MARD), Ministry of
Sustainable Development and Tourism (MTSD) and representatives of the Food Safety
Directorate, representatives of hotels and supermarkets interested in local sourcing of
traditional products, and a representative from an IT platform for agricultural producers
(Seljak.me).
2. Objectives In view of building a roadmap to link agriculture to tourism, the main objective of this workshop
was to address the regulation issues faced by smallholders for accessing the tourism markets:
food safety and flexibility, activity and ease of registration, and labelling rules. The specific
objectives were to:
Provide a clear picture of the issues and possible solutions, highlighting what remains to
be done;
Raise awareness of small-scale producers on the steps for the registration, as well as the
tools and support available at local and national level;
Identify the activities to increase inter-sectors linkages and their benefits for tourism
and rural development to include in the roadmap.
On this occasion, an information booklet, prepared under the FAO-EBRD project, for producers
and food processors on the existing legislation in Montenegro on food safety and good hygienic
practices and their obligations for placing safe products on the market, was distributed to the
participants.
3. Participants
The workshop had an impressive participant turnout, despite the limiting weather conditions
for producers in some municipalities. A total of 59 participants attended the workshop,
including 25 representatives of MARD, MTSD, FAO and EBRD, retail sector and hotels , and 15
producers of fruit and vegetables, 9 meat and dairy producers and 10 producers of cereal,
herbs and honey coming from the municipalities of Andrijevica, Bijelo Polje, Kolašin, Mojkovac,
Nikšić, Petnjica, Pljevlja and Žabljak.
4. Elements discussed
Opening
Within the opening session, the participants
were addressed by:
Mr Cazim Hodzic, General Director of the
Directorate for Development of Tourist
Destination and Tourism Infrastructure, MTSD,
who explained to the participants how the
tourism offer in Montenegro will be richer with
an increased provision of local products. He
emphasized that the development of tourism
and agriculture is interlinked. The Ministry has
developed strategies to ensure that local
products have their place in the tourism offer,
and has particularly focused on the rural
tourism strategy, which is in its final stages of
development. The Ministry expressed its
continuous support to all initiatives that aim to
incorporate local products and local cuisine in
the offer of hotels and restaurants in
Montenegro.
Mr Enis Gjokaj, Head of the Directorate for
Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural
Development, MARD, stated that his Ministry is
working hard in order to improve the quality
and quantity of local products. He also introduced the numerous financial measures from the
national Agrobudget and the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance in Rural Development
(IPARD) that are dedicated to this goal.
Mr Jaap Sprey, Head of the EBRD Resident Office in Montenegro, EBRD, stated that EBRD works
with various businesses of different scales in Montenegro, and has supported different
initiatives related to linking tourism and agriculture. He highlighted that tourism represents
25% of the GDP and that tourism provides continuous impulses to the economy not just during
construction. In this regard, with EBRD loans to big hotels and other tourism businesses,
specific strings can be attached to further support the successful linkages between local food
producers and the tourism industry. He stated that local producers need to produce enough
food and aggregate this production, for example through cooperatives, as well as meet hotel
and EU standards.
Emilie Vandecandelaere, FAO Agribusiness Economist and team leader of the FAO-EBRD
project, stated the importance of linking smallholders to the tourism market opportunities in
Montenegro. This would not only maximize the benefits of the new geographical indications in
their territories, for which a previous FAO-EBRD project has also provided support, but more
generally to make concrete steps in the shared vision of linking agriculture and tourism.
Addressing the issue of smallholders’ access to market, through formal registration of their
activity and compliance to food safety is one of the major steps in this direction. This conclusion
comes directly from the findings of the gap analysis report that has been produced under the
FAO-EBRD project. Building on the presentation of these most significant findings during this
opening remark session, the goals of the workshop were well introduced, and producers were
encouraged to be active in the discussions and to take to the opportunity to raise all the issues
that policymakers could potentially resolve.
Panel: Linking agriculture to tourism: opportunities for smallholders
Ms Jelena Krivcevic, director of the Regional Development Agency for Bjelasica, Komovi and
Prokletije, project contributor, moderated this session.
Mr Nemanja Kuljic, Hotel Bianca
Mr Kuljic gave a very interesting presentation of Bianca Hotel and the relationship with small-
scale producers, and explained how the hotel had serious problems with inspections when local
Kolasinski cheese produced by small-scale producers has been offered in the hotel. The hotel
has many requests for
local products from the
local population and from
tourists, especially for the
typical Kolasinski cheese.
However, there are not
many producers who have
fulfilled the criteria and
legal requirements to sell their products to hotels, particularly in food safety, and food safety
regulations for hotels are stringent. HACCP has been implemented in the hotel for the past 4
years. Hotel Bianca is trying to purchase local products that are compliant, and currently these
represent around 15 percent of their total product supply, but this is proving to be quite
difficult. For any hotel procurement office, it is hard and time consuming to work with large
number of small producers. A recommendation to small-scale producers is to join forces and
have one representative who would communicate with the buyer, and this, aside from
compliance with legal requirements, is a recipe for success in linking producers with hotels and
restaurants. In this respect, the issue of supply distribution/transport logistics for small
producers was also raised; therefore, producers’ aggregation could also contribute to improve
this aspect.
Ms Jelena Doderovic, Director of Marketing, IDEA Supermarkets
Ms Doderovic presented the
experience of Ukusi kraja
moga campaign that they
have implemented, with the
aim to include and promote
local products. IDEA has
invested 200,000 euros in the
promotional campaign, using
their own finances, which is a
clear sign of the importance
of this subject to them. In terms of criteria that they have used for selection of products and
producers, they had several: typical products, minimum 50% processing in Montenegro,
compliance with regulations, but also the capacity to supply IDEA retail chain of 119 shops in
Montenegro, which was really a significant obstacle for small holders. For this reason, IDEA is
planning to implement a regional concept, through which small-scale producers would supply
only the shops in specific regions to address the limitation of quantity and logistics.
After the two presentations, the question of payment policy/arrangements to suppliers was
raised, and if there is any flexibility for payments to smallholders (i.e., any reduction of
timeframe between product delivery and payment). Hotel Bianca usually applies a payment
timeframe of 30 days from the date of delivery, but this time range can be flexible based on
previous cooperation with the suppliers. IDEA stated that in some cases the company issues
pre-payments, when a good delivery is guaranteed.
A general suggestion from a producer was to eventually issue the payment of a product batch
before the next batch is delivered.
Mr Marko Maras, Web Developer and Founder of www.seljak.me portal
Mr Maras presented the concept of the portal, which has already been
recognized as very useful tool for people from rural areas and consumers
throughout Montenegro. The portal has good potential for being an
instrument to directly link agricultural producers to tourism and the HORECA
sector.
Currently the benefits of online sales through this portal are numerous – any producer can
register on the platform and use it, for any product (livestock, fruit and vegetables, machinery
etc.). As an example, in 2018, around 7,000 large cattle were sold through the portal. The
communication between farmer and the consumer is direct, and they agree on how the
product will be delivered, or if the buyer will pick it up. This allows a wide range of producers to
find the buyers for their products anywhere in Montenegro. The producers present their
product however they want, and can upload all product information. Thus, an informed
consumer can choose what type of product to buy. Sales through this portal allows also for
non-registered and non-compliant products to be sold, however the portal itself does not
perform any type of control, which represents some risk for the consumers.
These three experiences representing different market channels (online platform, retailer and
hotel) for Montenegrin traditional quality products provided a concrete vision of how
producers can benefit once they access the formal market, opening the discussion for working
on the “how to do it”.
How can small-scale and traditional producers comply with Food
safety rules and engage in food business?
Ms Aleksandra Martinovic, FAO national consultant for the project, moderated the following
sessions.
Eight participants from the Food Safety Directorate attended this event, which clearly
demonstrates the commitment of the directorate towards the highest possible number of
hygiene and food safety compliant producers.
Ms Biljana Blecic, Director of the Food Safety Directorate, explained to the producers the
changes that happened in legislation in food safety sector in past years, with particular focus on
changes required for EU approximation process. She explained how EU food safety rules have
been introduced in Montenegrin laws, and how specific flexibility measures have been
introduced to allow small-scale traditional producers to be compliant. She also reiterated how
there is misconception among producers that it is expensive and complex to be compliant, but
in reality only those who do not get fully informed have this opinion. The Food Safety
Directorate regularly organizes workshops and information sessions to explain to producers
how to register, and this has demonstrated successful results as Montenegro has already
registered significant number of compliant producers. The Directorate is continuously
communicating with the producers in order to understand specific needs and problems on the
ground, and to adjust the regulations whenever it is possible and fix the problems in those
regulations that can be more practical and better suited to the needs of the producers. Ms
Blecic gave an overview of where the producers can get the information they might need, and
stated that the Directorate is continuously uploading guidelines and information material on
their website.
Constraints and needs vs lessons learned and solutions
After the presentations, three working groups divided by production sector aimed to tackle
constraints and needs in food safety compliance and flexibility, producers’ registration and
labelling rules, and discuss related lessons learned and solutions.
Fruits and vegetable sector – This group was moderated by FAO national consultant Mr Ben
Toric and organized in synergy with the other FAO-EBRD project on supporting sustainable
value chain integration in the
fruit and vegetable sector.
Topics discussed were food
safety compliance and
flexibility, registration (activity,
facility) and labelling rules. It
was stated that this group has
easier tasks ahead of them than
for example meat and dairy
sector. The farmers were
explained the procedures that need to be followed, and where to find more detailed
information about compliance measures. However, the conclusion of this group was that it
would be highly beneficial for the producers to have more practical guidelines where all
procedures would be explained in simple words, step by step, specifically tailored to the fruit
and vegetable sector, in less technical language and tailored to their needs. For example,
farmers need a simpler explanation of the type of registration required considering their
production, what type of laboratory analysis is required and where and when it should be
undertaken, and a clearer definition of labeling and declarations and exactly what needs to be
included in these. In addition, the group reiterated the need for support to establish farmer
groups e.g. cooperatives.
Herbs/honey/cereals sector – this group was moderated by Ms Jelena Krivcevic and discussed
all the topics as the previous group. The most significant obstacles for the producers are
laboratory tests, especially in the herbs
sector, where instructions received from
food safety directorate were not clear and
doubts persist on whether all types of
herbs should be tested, or only the
dominant types if they are collected in
same areas, and whether herbs collected
on household level should only be sold to
the factories that are processing herbs. It
was clear to the group that the regulations
in this sector need to be further detailed
and tailored to the real circumstances on the ground. The same conclusion was drawn for the
rural tourism sector. In the case of a family offering tourism services, and food in particular, the
instructions varied from i) all products need to be tested, ii) only those products that have
highest sales should be tested, and iii) food being offered in rural households is extremely risky
and should be strictly controlled. It was agreed to research what are the practices in countries
where rural tourism is more developed to then compare Montenegro and develop specific
guidelines for rural tourism households.
Dairy sector
Similar issues have been discussed in the group gathering dairy producers. Ms Aleksandra
Martinovic moderated the discussion, and the focus was on food safety regulations and
adopted flexibility measures. The producers have mainly shown concern about the high
financial investments for processing, but the food safety directorate insisted that for processing
of 50 liters and more of milk a separate space should be dedicated. In terms of quality schemes,
dairy producers should be working on simpler national schemes that are not yet used. In terms
of declaration, the Food Safety Directorate will be making a sample declaration, to assist
farmers in preparing their own. Producers would also need some sort of guidelines from hotels
and restaurants in order to know what requirements they need to fulfill. More experienced
producers have claimed that flexibility measures have brought great benefits for small-scale
producers and have advised others to follow them.
During the group sessions, the participants were given a simple survey to fill in (in Annex 4), but
only twenty-two producers have done so.
The response rate was 65%. Of the respondents, eight are registered (36%). Eleven respondents
intend to register in very near future, and seven among them are clear about registration while
four are not.
Five respondents need additional information on the following aspects: a) registration
procedures; b) labelling of dairy products; c) product packaging and laboratory testing; d)
necessary equipment for F&V processing; e) regulation on Non-Timber-Forest products. Twelve
respondents indicated their obstacles for selling, and these mainly concern, to labelling
regulation, cost of laboratory analysis and financing for processing facilities. Markets of interest
for the respondents are mostly hotels &restaurants and direct selling to tourists, followed by
small shops, online sales and supermarkets.
5. Conclusions and recommendations
The event enabled a fruitful exchange between producers, HORECA representatives and public authorities. The presentations and group discussions have confirmed how crucial is the first step of compliance to regulations to link small producers to the tourism market. Producers provided positive feedback on the workshop and appreciated the opportunity to discuss in detail the aspects of registration, food safety and labelling with specialists from the Food Safety Directorate, and are now more willing to register. Building on these exchanges, key recommendations were identified, namely:
- the need to better regulate some grey zones in registration procedures as well in some sectoral regulations (e.g. herbs);
- the need to better communicate to farmers procedures and steps, including costs, frequency and type of laboratory tests, where those tests can be done etc;
- the need for rural tourism households to have specific set of rules regarding food safety, as it was unclear during the session which rules apply and which not, and if the strictest scenario is taken in consideration, it would mean that literally each ingredient for a meal needs to be certified and tested which would mean no households could be involved in this activity as it would be too expensive;
- the need to understand best practices in rural tourism hygiene and food safety compliance from similar experiences in the European Union;
- the need to ensure communication/informative exchanges between the Food Safety Directorate and producers on the steps to be taken for registration, implementation of food safety standards and labelling. A practical suggestion was to make a calendar of informative sessions/events covering all the municipalities to gather producers (divided by production sector) and the Food Safety Directorate personnel;
- in relation to the above point, the development of practical guidelines for producers to connect to market embracing all the above-mentioned aspects;
- the need to support associations/cooperatives and build linkages with quality labels. - the need to provide support to farmers to establish farmer groups such as cooperatives.
These recommendations can be integrated in the mentioned roadmap as well as in some planned project activities, ensuring a continuous exchange between public and private stakeholders.
Annex 1 Agenda of the workshop
9.30 Welcome coffee
10.00 Opening
Mr Ćazim Hodžić, General Director of the Directorate for Development of Tourist Destination
and Tourism Infrastructure, MTSD
Mr Enis Gjokaj, Head of Directorate for monitoring and evaluation of rural development,
MARD
Mr Jaap Sprey, Head of the EBRD Resident Office in Montenegro ,EBRD
10.15
Panel : Linking agriculture to tourism: opportunities for smallholders
- Introduction to the current situation, FAO, Ms Emilie Vandecandelaere (moderator)
- Experience from Hotel Bianca, Mr Nemanja Kuljić; Hotel Dvor, Mr Nedjeljko Jeremic
- Experience from iDEA, Ms Jelena Doderovic
- Experience from Seljak.me Mr Marko Maras
10.45
How can small-scale and traditional producers comply with Food safety rules and engage in
food business?
Representatives of MARD, Directorate for Food Safety:
- Food safety and flexibility requirements and legal aspects
- Current status of the on farm registration
- Labelling rules
11.30 Coffee Break
11.45
Constraints and needs vs lessons learned and solutions
3 round tables to inform on the topic, discuss issues and draft recommendations for the
roadmap:
WG1: food safety compliance, and flexibility
WG2:registration (activity, facility)
WG3:labelling rules
13.30
Presentation of results (3X10’ )
Discussion 15’
14.15 Wrap up and way forward (findings/recommendations for the roadmap)
Jelena Krivcevic RDA BKP,
Milena Kotlica, MARD
Anka Kujovic, MTSD,
Nemanja Grgic , EBRD (TBC)
Emilie Vandecandelaere FAO
14.30 Closing
Lunch Buffet
Annex 2
Participants list
Annex 3
Photos from the event
Annex 4
National workshop on linking small-scale producers to HORECA
Exit questionnaire
1) Name:
2) Sector/ Type of Production:
3) Are you registered as a processor?
4) Do you have the intention to register?
5) Are you clear about the registration process?
6) Do you need additional information, and if so, what information?
7) What are the obstacles for selling to formal market channels?
8) What are the key markets you would like to access?