engleski

Croatia World Summit Follow-up. Draft Strategy for National Agricultural Development. Horizont 2010

There have been significant changes since the World Food Summit in 1996. In addition to common problems encountered in transitional countries, like privatization etc., Croatia still carries the burden of rebuilding the areas devastated by the war, but also of the economy that was heavily affected during that period. The stagnating economy increased the unemployment rate, causing a decrease in the standard of living over the last few years. This, of course, has negatively influenced the quality of nutrition. Both economic and nutritional situations are particularly difficult in the areas that Croatia reclaimed in 1993 and 1995. In 1993 Croatia started with the implementation of a successful stabilization program which has contributed to controlling inflation and stabilizing exchange rates. However, economic growth was slowed down until 1999. This was due to an inadequate financial and banking reform and to the lack of investments which could have increased the competitiveness of domestic economy, as the war situation has been directing investments towards reconstruction and domestic consumption. Following economic reform in 1993, the rate of economic growth has been varying from 6 to 7 percent ; however, in 1998 it was slowed down due to insufficient diligence and solving the problems related to the financial and banking area and to the privatization of companies. In the last years, the major share in the GDP is held by the processing industry (16 to 18 percent), while the sectors of trade, agriculture, construction and tourism have also taken a great share in the last few years. The basic economic indicators of the situation in agriculture during the last period point to the disproportion in the ratio: investments in agriculture – contribution of agriculture to the whole economy. The proportional importance of agriculture, assessed by the share of agriculture in the Gross Domestic Product, is decreasing when considered on a long-term basis. At the beginning of the nineties, the GDP of agriculture represented approximately 9 percent, and during the war period it increased proportionally due to a more significant drop in non-agricultural sectors. The agricultural sector experienced a moderate growth from 1995 to 1998, which is partly due to the reintegration of Eastern Slavonia. As a result of higher growth rates in the remaining sectors of economy, the contribution of agriculture (with hunting and forestry) to the GDP has slightly decreased during that period, and it has been evaluated at 7 percent for 1998. Foreign trade of agricultural and food products constitutes a relatively small share in the whole foreign trade and represents 11 to 13 percent. Unsolved land policy issues have slowed down the development of the agricultural sector, and more particularly the question of the holders of land owned by the State and the slack trade of land plots. In the last decade agricultural production in Croatia has experienced a negative growth rate. However, although the scope of production in 1997 is still under the level of the period 1990 to 1992 for a majority of main productions, a positive trend is noticeable in the last three years. The positive progress may be construed as a result of several factors of influence, among which the more important are: (a) recovery after the war damage and the reintegration of formerly occupied territories in the production system, (b) increase in the intensity of production and rise in commodities in order to sharpen competition, and (c) incentive and credit measures of agricultural policy. With the forthcoming admission to the WTO, Croatian agriculture will face more severe criteria of international competition. As a consequence, in conjunction with the existing measures aiming at organizing the market of agriculture and the new ones, the agricultural policy will be focusing its efforts on structural measures of agricultural and rural policy. This refers, among other, to measures of direct income support for the population in rural areas depending economically on agriculture.

agriculture; strategy; development; Croatia

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