PROCESSING OF PORK MEAT IN THE FUNCTION OF VALUE-ADDED CREATION AT THE FAMILY FARMS

Creation of value-added at the farms could play great role in strengthening of their economic sustainability. Serbia has long tradition in pig farming. This subsector of agriculture in last few decades is facing the negative trend in production capacities (decrease in active farms and number of pigs) and it is mainly based on economically weak family farms characterized by small number of pigs. On the other hand it is obvious the strengthening of their specialization to pig farming. This line of agricultural production is specifically under the higher production risks mainly influenced by pork cycle and some market risks. Thus, the often and expressed price oscillation affects primarily the sustainability of small farms, disabling the proper planning of production and endangering their survival. Processing of pork meat at small family farms could be a good solution for income stabilization, where created value added could induce better competitiveness of the farms. The main goal of the paper is to present the economic potential of the conduction of pork meat processing at small family farms, in scenarios with or without of employment of external labour. In this context, it was used the analytical calculations based on variable costs (contribution margin). Gained results show that comparing to pig growing, organization of mentioned activity will significantly increase the farm incomes in both cases, impacting the many positive effects on farm sustainability.