Actual problems of organic farming in Slovakia | Súčasné problémy ekologického poľnohospodárstva na Slovensku
2011
Savov, R., Slovenská poľnohospodárska univ., Nitra (Slovak Republic). Fakulta ekonomiky a manažmentu, Katedra manažmentu | Lančarič, D. | Kozáková, J. | Rovný, P.
Slovakia has experienced positive trends in organic farming development in recent years (the area of organic land and number of ecofarms have increased). In spite of this trend there are many problems hindering further development of organic farming in Slovakia. These problems start to appear in production, continue with state support and processing operators, end up in retail markets. Negative or neutral attitude to bio products is a big problem. People named high price level, questionable quality and small range of products among big negatives of ecoproducts. Purchasing power of population limits sale of bio products and decreases return of money to producers. We analyzed the correlation of income to bio products consumption. According to Pearson (0.807), Kendall tau (0.762), Spearman (0.914) correlation coefficients we can say that there is a strong statistical correlation. This correlation refers to countries with higher income and with higher bio products consumption. There are also other problem areas such as lower state financial support, low initiative "from below" (ecofarmers associations) and high level of control. Missing infrastructure of bio products processors is a big barrier in development of Slovak organic farming. In this indicator, Slovakia (with 5 processors) ranks among the least developed EU countries. Poor knowledge of production and sale and small portfolio of products also belong among factors inhibiting development of organic farming in Slovakia. However, the fundamental problem is higher level of production costs compared to conventional farming. Thus, there is lower possibility of competitiveness with higher price in the market. Our research confirmed that costs are 42% (wheat) and 34% (corn) higher in organic farming compared to conventional farming.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Institute