Plant protection practice of organic farmers in Macedoniaand the role of Higher education institutions in providingsupport

Recent data from the Department of Organic Farming of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy are showing decrease of interest by farmers to continue the organic practice and new farmers are not sufficient in numbers to compensate the number of those one who made their decision to turn back to conventional principles. Searching for the reasons of such trend, the Department of Organic Farming at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy conducted own research and analysis present that major reason are low economic benefit. But, is it so? Is this the only reason for losing interest? A Study for Development of Organic Farming in the East Planning region in 2010, performed by the Faculty of Agriculture at Goce Delchev University in Shtip could be revealing something else under the surface. An interview on 983 farmer households, from 80 rural settlements in the East Planning Region was performed in a search of what are practices of the farmers, what is their understanding of what organic farming is. Finally, research in 2014 was conducted with an assistance from one of the certification bodies, aiming to find out if our farmers are familiar with permitted pesticides that can be obtained on the market and are they relying on their application.