Appropriate Agricultural Policies to Sustain Agriculture in the Central and Eastern European Countries

Abstract

One of the main components of a sustainable agricultural system is the maintenance and care of the stock of natural capital. Recent experiences in CEE countries provide some important lessons as to the effect of large reductions in transfers from consumers and taxpayers to farmers, on the natural environment. The transition toward the market economy has been associated with a substantial fall in the level of agricultural output and a run down of all forms of capital stock including levels of soil fertility. These effects can be compared with those in the European Union where the high level of such transfers are often blamed for agricultural pollution and the destruction of habitats. This is not surprising given the objectives that most agricultural policies are designed to meet.