Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(4):416-432 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.701

Subsidies to Less Favoured Areas in the Czech Republic: Why Do They Matter?

Jana Poláková
Jana Poláková, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

Subsidy to less favoured area (LFA) farms is central to rural development policy in the European Union. Here, three categories of LFA support are assessed: farm competitiveness measures, LFA measures, and agri-environment measures. These categories of measures are complementary to safeguarding land management and delivering ecosystem benefits. Based on historical data for the Czech Republic, this paper endeavours to illustrate potential methods for assessing the LFA subsidies. In sum, rigorous methods to evaluate LFA evidence are still at their very starting point, even as they are necessary in order to ascertain the Community's capability, alongside the local, regional, or national institutional capability. A positive trend has been identified with regard to  stabilizing the available rural development budget for the policy priority "Restoring, preserving and enhancing agroecosystems".

Keywords: LFA support, rural development funding, land-based measures
JEL classification: H41, N50, Q10, R1

Received: October 20, 2017; Accepted: April 30, 2018; Published: September 3, 2019  Show citation

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Poláková, J. (2019). Subsidies to Less Favoured Areas in the Czech Republic: Why Do They Matter? Prague Economic Papers, 28(4), 416-432. doi: 10.18267/j.pep.701
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