Three Generations and a New Future
USAID Serbia & Montenegro - Community Revitalization
through Democratic Action (CRDA)
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Grandson, and Future
Farmer, Stefan.
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"When I grow up, I will not leave my village!" proclaims
seven-year-old Stefan Nikolic.
And Stefan's father, Duško, knows why: "These
sheep, we care so much about them. It sounds kind of funny,
but we don't look after anything else the same way!" They
are the family livelihood and their hope of staying in their
home towns.
Throughout rural parts of Central Serbia, families worry
about the future in their home towns and villages. Over the
past decade, opportunities for generating a decent income
have been few and far between in agriculture-based communities.
As children grow up, many look toward the larger cities as
places where jobs might be found, and lives might be built.
However, thanks to USAID’s Community Revitalization
through Democratic Action (CRDA) program, citizens are changing
their future plans and seeking to develop opportunities in
the villages where they were raised.
"Now, when we meet up with neighbors, usually for no
specific reason, we begin talking about the progress of our
sheep and the development of our community livestock project," describes
Duško Nikolic. "For example, I'll have new lambs
born in about two months. My next-door neighbor received
sheep as well, so we’ll get together and talk about
what's new with him, with me, and with our work, our sheep."
Živomir the eldest among the three generations of the
Nikolic family living in the village of Lužnice is deeply
involved in the project: "I worked at the Zastava automobile
plant in Kragujevac until five years ago. After I left, I
wanted to stay at home and be a farmer, but those plans didn't
work out. Last year, through the USAID Community Revitalization
through Democratic Action (CRDA) program, the local agricultural
cooperative association in Lužnice created a project
to revive the sheep-production industry in three villages – Lužnice,
Jovanovac and Cvetojevac."
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| Grandfather Živomir. |
ACDI/VOCA – using $37,531 worth of financial assistance
from USAID – contracted with a local firm to provide
52 families with four ewes and one ram apiece (a total of
260 sheep) – thereby reinvigorating the local breeding
stock to provide greater production of wool and meat.
"More than 100 families wanted to become owners of
the special Vitenberg-breed sheep," describes Živomir. "The
first twenty families were selected in a local lottery and
my name was one of the lucky ones pulled out of the hat." The
initial round of families will donate the first lambs born
of the imported stock to neighbors who want to take part
in the project, those second-round families will in turn
pass on the second generation of lambs to other members of
the community.
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| Generation II – Farmer Duško. |
In the future, all inhabitants from the three villages
who want to take part in the project will have their own
full-breed
stock – a rejuvenated industry that will impact the
lives of 2000 citizens in Lužnice, Jovanovac and Cvetojevac.
During the first year, direct beneficiaries of the project
will contribute over $35,000 in feed, breed-stock registration
and insurance expenses to the project.
Živomir's son, Duško, does not wish to leave the
village of his youth, and now has great plans that will help
him stay and prosper in his hometown. "Now, it is possible
to live and work in Lužnice, to produce crops and other
agricultural goods," describes Duško. "Our
plans are getting bigger all the time. Within three or four
years, our family farm will have at least 40 to 50 sheep.
This may seem like a long period of time, but the profits
will pay off in the short term: Prices are good and the market
is great. We already have the capacity to feed a greater
number of sheep
Stefan – youngest of the third generation in the Nikolic
clan – is simply excited to have the new additions
to family life. Stefan's daily routine has clearly changed: "Every
morning at 5am, grandfather and I go out to the yard to feed
the new sheep. Raising sheep is not that big a deal," grins
Stefan. "Grandpa and I feed them once a day; I can play
with them and watch them grow!"
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