The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a land-locked country, largely hilly and mountainous. The combination of Continental and Sub-Mediterranean climate, characterized by long, warm summers and short, not too severe winters, provides fertile soil and generally excellent conditions for production of a range of food products. Aable land represents 25% of the total land area and is divided into very small farms (1 ha in size on average).

All institutions participating in plant breeding in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are public, financed by the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), except for the only private company Agrounija. Public institutions are also responsible for education and training in the field of plant breeding and seed production. Conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources is organized with collaboration of all stakeholders, and the national genebank responsible for maintenance of collections is placed at the Institute of Agriculture, Skopje.

The only active breeding program with economic results is the wheat and tobacco breeding program. Other programs vary over the years, depending on the available researchers and resources, as the Government is not supporting strongly this area. The main goal of the breeders is achieving higher yields and quality of the crops, as well as improving tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Within the last ten years biotechnology and induced mutations are also used in the programs. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is currently in a process of establishing a national germplasm conservation system.

The most limiting aspects for the success of Macedonian plant breeding are lack of financial resources to carry out field and laboratory experiments and lack of support from the international community. Macedonian institutes expect the help of the international community by strengthening national program capacity through investments, or helping in project preparation.

Research and education institutes with activities in plant breeding

Public Institutes

	Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, University Ss Ciryl and Methodius, Skopje No Website available The Faculty participates in plant breeding and biotechnology research in cooperation with other scientific institutions, especially with the Institute of Agriculture, Skopje. Breeding activities are carried out in the following departments: Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Department of Vegetable Crops and Floriculture, Department of Field Crops, Department of Fruit Crops and Processing, Department of Viticulture and Enology.
	Institute of Agriculture, Skopje, No Website available The Institute of Agriculture is the largest institution in the field of plant breeding in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia with breeding programs for several crops. Most active and successful is the wheat breeding program. The activities are organized within the following Departments: Department for Field Crops, Department for Vegetable Crops, and Department for Fruit crops, Department for Viticulture. The national genebank, responsible for conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, is also located at the Institute of Agriculture.
	Faculty of Agriculture, University Goce Delchev, Shtip Website available in Macedonian, Russian and English Plant breeding activities are focused mainly on cereal, legume and industrial crops. The Faculty of Agriculture possesses genebank facilities for maintenance of the breeding collection.
	Tobacco Institute (IT), University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Bitola Website available in Macedonian and English IT is organized in several departments. Among them relevant to breeding is the Department for Genetics, Breeding and Seed Control. The Institute possesses 31 ha of experimental fields and several laboratories. IT has a comprehensive programme on tobacco breeding. The Institute possesses genebank facilities for maintenance of the breeding collection.
	Institute for Southern Crops (ISC), University Ss Ciryl and Methodius, Skopje No Website available ISC was founded as the ‘Institute for Cotton’ in 1956. It has been doing research in crop breeding and plant biotechnology for 25 and 5 years, respectively. The main focus in plant breeding is on industrial and vegetable crops. For all crops of interest, the largest amount of the plant breeding budget was allocated to line development.

Private Institutes

Agrounija, Skopje Website available in Macedonian and English Agrounija is the only private company in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia dealing with plant breeding. The breeding program focuses only on wheat and triticale breeding. The highest breeding priority for both crops is to obtain higher yield and better quality. Second priority is resistance to abiotic stresses, mainly drought, while much less attention is paid to disease and pest resistance.

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Information by Sonja Ivanovska (2006) - Information based on the Macedonia's full report from the PBBC survey. Last revised 01-03-2010, GIPB