The citizens’ Association “Initiative for Development and Cooperation” and a group of people from Sabac applied for a project called ”Rural development after floods” that was implemented by the Austrian Development Agency and decided to make a positive change in the society and inspire others by example. Through that project the brand ZaDruga (translation – cooperative, hidden meaning on serbian – for a friend) was created and it stands as a symbol of association, joint work, mutual help and cooperation within the social firm “Agro Iris” from Sabac.
For cooperation and collaboration
These young people looked up to our grandparents and their traditions and founded a real cooperative. They joined with agricultural producers from rural areas and aim to help them improve their business and farmsteads and also the quality of their lives because they are giving them a possibility to earn more money. Farmers cultivate, pick and choose only high quality fruit from their own fields, and the cooperation dries and packs the fruit. They appear together on the market. All of the members share one part of the profit and the other is invested in the development of social enterprises. Gathered around this idea they are focused not only on profit but on development of the local economy and progress of our society by spreading the word about local products.
Why is this cooperation special?
If you’re wondering why this cooperation is different than the rest we have the answer! They have four mobile driers, which means that they travel with the members from city to city and village to village. That way the farmers don’t have to pay for transportation. It is also very important that the quality of the fruit stays the same, they don’t add any artificial colors, additives and preservatives without any pesticides. Everything is natural and healthy- we pick the fruits, wipe them off on our shirts and they are ready to be eaten – it was just like this with our grandparent in the countryside!
How can we contribute to the cooperative?
Thanks to this cooperative and their engagement only local fruit of the best quality reaches us and our customers – dried plums, dried but still juicy pears and apple chips. When we support them and buy their products we don’t only enjoy their magnificent flavors and aromas but much more than that – we contribute to the improvement of lives of our small countryside farmers. This way we are consciously making our society better and stronger and raising the local standard. This is why each of us is a very important part of this society – together we contribute so it can become better and are spreading the idea of cooperation.
We are all a crucial part of social processes and it is necessary to only realize our role and the contribution we can make. We are sure that ZaDruga will continue to grow, and we will be here to support their growth.
#KoVoli (Who loves) to create positive change?
