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Main Issues of Agriculture and the Environment and the Strategy of Agricultural Development ALOIS SLABY Czechoslovak Ministry of Agriculture and Food The advanced tradition of Czechoslovak farming is evidenced by the long-term development of agriculture in Czechoslovakia. Within the European region, Czechoslovak agriculture has always ranked high in the use of modern and progressive farming methods and in the education of the farming population. Agricultural cooperatives have a tradition of more than one hundred years in Czechoslovakia, and this tradition has continued during the formation of large-scale, socialist, agricultural production organizations which began in 1949. The bulk of agricultural production in Czechoslovakia comes from the socialist sector, including state farms and cooperative farms. The socialist sector farms on 95.9 percent of the area of arable land. Of this, 30.9 percent of the area belongs to the state farms and 65 percent to the cooperatives. Individual farmers and keepers of small plots of land use about 4.1 percent of the available farm land. The total area of farm land in Czechoslovakia is 6,794,000 hectares, including 4,786,000 hectares of arable land (70.4 percent of the total). As of January 1, 1987, Czechoslovakia had 1,664 cooperative farms with an average size of 2,584 hectares and 162 state farms with an average size of 8,579 hectares of farm land, although their sizes vary considerably. For instance, cooperative farms range from about 1,000 hectares to almost 10,000 hectares in exceptional cases. State farms range from about 2,500 hectares to almost 70,000 hectares, which is the size of several state farms in the border regions of the Czech Socialist Republic. There are also narrowly specialized units called Joint Agricultural Enterprises. It is interesting to compare
2 these data with data from the initial period before the socialization of agricultural production almost 40 years ago. At that time the land in the territory of Czechoslovakia was farmed by 1.5 million small farmers on 33 million plots. Agricultural production is also influenced by the industrialized nature of the Czechoslovak territory, by the density of settlements, and by water management conditions with the majority of waters flowing away from the territory of the country. The high degree of afforestation in Czechoslovakia is a positive feature with regard to agriculture, as forests cover about one-third of the territory. Great progress has been made in the concentration and specialization of agricultural production. This approach provides good opportuni- ties for the utilization of the results of scientific and technological development and for advanced economic activity of agricultural en- terprises. Czechoslovak authorities pay great attention to the development of agriculture and food production and continuously create favorable conditions for further intensive development of this important part of the national economy. Czechoslovak agriculture, and consequently the food industry, have recently undergone substantial changes. As a result of effective intensification, agricultural production has in- creased considerably, and the domestic food market has been signifi- cantly enriched. Retail trade networks are fully supplied with a wide spectrum of food products. The results achieved in agriculture provide a good basis for high per capita food consumption. In 1986 per capita consumption levels were above 86 kg for meat, 250 kg for milk and dairy products, 9 kg for butter, and 344 for eggs. Self-sufficiency in temperate zone products is almost 98 percent, while self-sufficiency in meat and other animal products, sugar, potatoes, and cereals has reached 100 percent in the last two years. The material and technical base for agriculture contributes sig- nificantly to the results obtained. Czechoslovak enterprises now have 140,000 tractors, 50,000 trucks, and 20,000 grain combines. Of course, the high qualifications of the agricultural workers is also important for achieving good results. At present 900,000 persons are permanently engaged in agriculture: 35,000 are university graduates, 105,000 have secondary level education, and 320,000 have left school to become apprentices in agriculture. Future objectives for agricul- ture in Czechoslovakia include full self-sufficiency in temperate zone products, improvement of quality of an expanded assortment of food
products, and improvement of the overall effectiveness of agricultural production. Czechoslovak authorities pay extraordinary attention to the re- lationship between further intensification of agriculture and environ- mental conservation. Agricultural activities are conducted on more than 52 percent of the territory of the country, and a sound envi- ronment is considered to be an inseparable part of the standard of living. The concept of a balanced relationship between further de- velopment of agriculture and protection of the environment includes the following three major tasks: ⢠Securing and developing the positive influence of farming on landscape ecosystems, referred to as the "non-production func- tion" of agriculture; ⢠Protecting the environment against potential adverse effects of farming and food processing industries, primarily caused by fail- ures to adhere to technological discipline; ⢠Minimizing the limiting effects of the environment on agriculture and food, both qualitatively and quantitatively. To conserve the agricultural land fund in Czechoslovakia, legal regulations were adopted in the early 1980s. As a result, losses of farm land have been markedly reduced, and increased attention is being paid to the productivity and quality of the soil. Agricultural workers and responsible authorities currently take appropriate measures for maintaining the quality of surface waters. The purity of air is a local agricultural problem which will require changes in the structure of production, and research is currently being conducted in this regard. Special interest is devoted to the use of chemicals in agriculture. All chemicals to be usedâboth domestic and importedâare tested, and state authorities grant permission for their use on the basis of test results. Methodological instructions for safe utilization of agricultural chemicals are issued annually. Strict and systematic measures are also taken to control and maintain the quality of food from the point of view of human health. The institutions responsible for this activity include the Central Agri- cultural Controlling and Testing Institute, the State Veterinary Ad- ministration, and the State Inspectorate of Farm and Food Product Quality. These problems are of great interest to scientists engaged in both basic and applied research. Agriculture and food production as a branch of the national economy has its own Conception of Environmental Conservation and
Development and Rational Natural Resources Utilization, a document which is to be in force until the year 2000. The concept represents a unified plan for further intensification of agriculture while outlining a complex system of measures to secure a balanced relationship with the environment. In this connection, emphasis is placed on the role of science in an effort to cope with the global and local problems of effective and reliable environmental protection. Intensive agricultural production is confronted with these problems at the present time and, owing to the development of what is called the civilization factor, will also have to face them in the future.
