Janko Mrkailo

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Story from the MyFoodStory website: 

Mrkailo Janko is living in a village Prigrevica near town Sombor in Serbia. He is semi retired. He has answered some questions about food and rural living.

What are you growing in your garden:

Mainly fruits. I have apricots,pears,peaches and apples.It is a small orchard. Some grapes too. We eat them fresh in big quantities in the season and also we make fresh juices, freeze them for winter,and also can some of the fruits for use during winter and use them for cooking and for making cakes. Lower quality fruits are used for making fruit brandy. I am also experimenting with making small quantities of wine.

Are your neighbor's food growers and why?

Yes they are because they are villagers living in rural area with small plots of land.

Do you consider your work of growing food useful?

Of course, every job is useful, especially if you are doing it for yourself, to have clean and healthy food as much as is possible.

Do you collect food from nature?

Yes I collect different herbs like chamomile,lime,nettle, and many others because we use it for teas. Nettle is also used in cooking same way as spinach is and it is very tasty and healthy food. Nettle tea is also very good for your health. We collect those herbs for making teas in winter.

Is growing food financially profitable?

I am not working this for profit, I work for myself, not for profit because it gives me great satisfaction and pleasure.

Is food growing useful?

It is useful.

What is the future of living in rural villages?

The future is bad because in our country the villagers have no help from anyone. Food is produced mainly biologically because the farmers have not enough money for pesticides and other chemicals like fertilizers. The village is getting older and older. the villages are dying.

Who should help the villages and how?

The state should help mainly with education and financially, we have no subventions, no viable markets for our products, we have only false promises, and we are left to ourselves.

Is agriculture important? Yes it is, it is spring of life, it's like water, nothing can develop without agriculture, the industry is following agriculture.

What is happening to the people in villages?

Young people are emigrating to bigger cities and trying to emigrate to other countries in order to find a job. Villages are getting old, only old people are left. There are less and less young people every year.

Is agriculture valued like it should be?

No.

What do you think is needed to revitalize rural life?

Help and education.

What should be done in this situation?

State has collapsed and we should leave it and go somewhere else.

Editor: Sasha Mrkailo

From the MyFoodStory website, storyteller JankoMrkailo

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