Slovakia spends 1.2 % of GDP on agriculture and rural development

Slovakia's public expenditure on agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development stands at 1.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and are above the EU average, with 70 percent of the money in agriculture coming from EU funds and most of it being used for direct payments to farmers.
This stems from an ongoing review of agricultural spending prepared by the Value for Money Unit of the Finance Ministry in cooperation with the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry's analysts. According to the report, the Agriculture Ministry's expenditures amounted to €1.1 billion this year. Slovakia is dominated by large farms that are demanding in terms of land and capital but not labour. The largest 20 percent of farms in Slovakia cultivate 94 percent of the land. The average for the EU as a whole is 82 percent. Less than 4 percent of farms produce up to 75 percent of total production in the sector. The land market is also characterised by fragmented ownership, which hampers investments. The report further states that added value in agriculture per hectare of land is low. This is due to the structure of agricultural production in Slovakia, dominated as it is by low added-value production (cereals, oil-based crops).