Domestic Products and Cottage Industry Fair is being held in Lopare today as part of the Days of the Diaspora, with about 30 producers and associations from this local community exhibiting their products.

In addition to Majevica brandy, this region has another branded and protected product. It is smoked Zarac cheese, the production of which started precisely on Majevica. Plans for more extensive production are underway, as this cheese is hard to find on the market.

– It is no secret, it is difficult, it is a long and demanding process, it is much easier to make other types of cheese made in our area – says Duška Mitrović from Lopare.

In addition to gastronomic products, the exhibitors also presented their works of art. Snježana Andrić fulfilled her youthful wish to paint after she retired as a doctor.

Snježana Andrić from Bijeljina says that her gymnasium days’ wish was to paint.

– Then I had too much free time when I retired, and I went out one morning and bought a canvas, oil paints and started painting – Andrić points out.

Every third inhabitant of Lopare is abroad, most of them in Switzerland. Cooperation with the diaspora is excellent, they say in this municipality. The diaspora has so far invested in 12 projects in the metal and chemical industries, as well as in agriculture.

– I think that over 60 percent of the funds in households here originate from the diaspora, because there is no house on Majevica that does not have someone abroad supporting the household budget by remittances – Rado Savić, the head of Lopare, points out.

The municipal administration appealed to all Majevica residents in the diaspora to contact them in case of administrative problems. The Days of the Diaspora in Lopare will continue in the coming years, announced the local administration.

Source and photo: RTRS