COUNTRY REPORT ON THE PRESENT ENVIRONMENTAL SITUATION IN AGRICULTURE
- SLOVAKIA -

INTRODUCTION

Slovakia was the poorer and more rural part of the former Czechoslovakian Federation (CSFR), which was known as one of the richer countries before World War II. Based mainly on imports of raw materials and energy from the Soviet Union the communist regime promoted the industralization of the Slovak parts of the Federation´s teritory and this lead to an equalized regional distribution of national economic activities. At the time of the fall of the communist regime in November 1989, the Czechoslovak Federation was a relatively poor country (compared to the members of the EU). Still embedded in the framework of the CSFR, the most important initial reforms towards a market oriented economy undertaken were: liberalization of prices; liberalization of trade; privatization; the establishment of economic institutions and adjustment of legislation.

After the Slovak Republic became a sovereign state on 1 January 1993, it had to cope with various difficulties from the former federation, such as: political instability; a lack of a broad census of the path of economic reforms; and fiscal and external imbalances as a consequence of the withdrawal of transfers from the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, this dissolution also brought about some positive aspects. In particular, Slovakia inherited: relatively low external debts; relatively low inflation; and a relatively consistent and adjusted macroeconomic policy.

After a rapid decline in the first transformation period, the Slovak economy shows recovering indicators of economic performance.

The increased pressure on natural resources, water and soil in particular, the wide changes in agricultural policies and practices, the improved recognition of environmental problems, the globalization of the economy, and the need for fair social and socio-economic balances, have made it necessary to rethink the issues of development. The concept of sustainable development in Slovakia has therefore been introduced and widely accepted. In the case of agriculture, this concept has particular implications for the relationships between agricultural activities, environmental preservation and resource conservation, and is also grounded in the strategic goals of Slovakian agrarian policy (Table 1).

THE IMPACT OF TRANSITION AND STRUCTURE OF PROPERTY RIGHTS

Since 1990, the process of transformation in Slovak Agriculture has been seriously constrained by low levels of capital investment. The investment rate in the agricultural sector has been at approximately 60 percent of the average investment rate for other sectors of the economy. The resultant undercapitalization in the sector affects the competitiveness of Slovak agricultural production, both in foreign and domestic markets. This has resulted in a worsening of the terms of trade and seems to be one of the most critical factors in the future development of the sector.

However, it is unrealistic to believe that agriculture will be able to continue to play this role. The good 1995 macro-economic results for the Slovak Republic should be seen against dramatically worsening economic and social conditions, especially in rural areas. If there is a further decline in agriculture, the problems associated with rural Slovakia will become a striking issue. The government has therefore stressed the importance of a balanced development to prevent rural unemployment and massive urban migration. The strategic role of agriculture in Slovak society is obvious also from the fact that 43 percent of the population live in rural areas, where until recently land was the main source of income.

The following passages of Chapter 2 are mainly based on the report of the European Union "Agricultural Situation and Prospects in the Central and Eastern European countries: Slovak Republic" which was prepared by the Research Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics of Bratislava.

The effect of privatization and the redefinition of property rights on natural resources

The privatization process of Slovakian enterprises was a very consequential step towards the restructuring of the whole economy. A sell-off of state assets has been pursued through two privatization waves. The privatization process started in 1990 during the CSFR period with "small-scale privatization", and was completed in 1992 with about 10 000 shops, businesses and enterprises being auctioned off. As a second phase of the first privatization wave, "large-scale" privatization was launched in 1992 and was completed by mid 1993. There were about 750 enterprises involved with book value of about 166 billion SKK. In this process the shares of 503 companies amounting to 80 billion SKK were distributed through a voucher-based "mass privatization".

In September 1994, the second wave of privatization started with the distribution of vouchers, but was then put on hold until June 1995, when the government announced a new privatization policy. The voucher privatization scheme was replaced with a scheme based on direct sales to strategic investors, including sales by installments to managers and employees (MEBO; the Management Employee Buy Out Scheme). Within the new privatization policy, a law relating to state interest in companies came into force in 1995. It lists 29 companies, which will not be privatized, mainly in infrastructure, telecommunications, armaments and agriculture. The law secures a majority share for the state in a further 45 companies of the mentioned sectors. A restitution fund was established by the National Property Fund (NPF) in 1993 to provide financial compensation to those whose claims could be met by the return of property. The privatization of the farm sector had a high priority in the policy framework of Slovakia.

Restructurization in rural areas

As result of privatization, collective farms and nearly all state farms disappeared and cooperative and large private farms emerged, most organized as corporate farms. As a result of the restructuring following privatization, cooperatives split up into corporate farms. Individual private and household plot farming remained a rather marginal activity occupying just 7 percent of total agricultural land with an average size of 7.7 hectares. However, despite this small percentage, their contribution to agricultural output is high. More than 60 percent of potato production took place on this farm type, and smallholders are the main producers of fruit and vegetables. However, dominated by the big cooperative and corporate entities, Slovak farm sizes, which formed as the result of transition, are amongst the largest in Europe. The re-assignment of property rights has been a difficult task as the land register had to be updated and re-adapted to the emerging ownership structure. The primary production sector made much better progress than the food industry in restructuring and the adaptation to a market economy. Farms could immediately increase their production if they received profitable prices from the downstream sector.

Liberalization

Transition in the agrarian sector is to be completed as part of the general economic reform, including important macro-economic changes. The most influential factors related to performance and operations in the agrarian sector are the following three important elements. First, price liberalization and the removal of the negative turnover tax and subsidy. This subsidy, under the conditions of the planned economy, was used to provide cheap food. Consumer food prices were subsidized enabling consumers to have access to cheap food products. Such a policy created a high level of food consumption. The removal of the subsidy resulted in a sharp decline in food consumption. As viewed by farmers, a negative consequence of price liberalization was a more rapid growth in input rather than output prices. Second, currency devaluation was accomplished in two steps. The first devaluation was in former Czechoslovakia, when the exchange rate of 17.2 Ks/1USD (January 1990) was changed to 28 Ks/US$1 (December 1990) and the second in the Slovak Republic to 32 SKK/US$1. The underdevaluation of the currency supported the export of agricultural products that were in excess of domestic demand. However, the production of agriculture in European Union countries made exports very difficult, if not impossible. And third, creating conditions for competition: economic reform followed a policy of demonopolization and the creation of a competitive environment, but this process has been difficult because of the structure of the planned economic system.

The development of the economic framework at farm level

Due to the process of privatization and changes in the structure of business entities, the total area of agricultural land farmed by cooperatives and state farms decreased (the number of employees and the value of fixed assets decreased in a similar manner). Commercial farming enterprises recorded a growth in all major indicators. Even though all types of farming entities are burdened by excessive debt, the situation in farming cooperatives is still critical, mainly because cooperatives assumed various financial obligations in the process of transformation. The number of bank loans increased, particularly in the case of commercial farming enterprises, which represent the most creditworthy clients in the sector (due to their low indebtedness and positive economic performance). Subsidies decreased on smaller farms and increased on bigger ones. The 501-1 000 hectares category of farms achieved the best economic results: their losses declined further and the growth in revenues exceeded the growth in the amount of expenses.

Land market

In order to restore and put in place a system of land ownership, Slovakia adopted Act No. 330/1991, which regulates the process of land consolidation, and prescribes procedures for the settlement of ownership rights. In 1995, based on this act, a series of land consolidation projects began.

On 14 June 1994, the government decided (Resolution No. 572) that all questions concerning titles to agricultural and forestland must be resolved by the end of 1998. According to the law and the government policy, the process is handled jointly by the Office of Geodesy, Cartography and Land Registry of SR (OGCLR) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MASR).

These entitled persons received back land, and their ownership was thereby reinstated. For the 15 754 hectares of land retained by the Land Authorities, pursuant to § 11 of the Land Act, entitled persons received 22.83 million Crowns in compensation. Similarly, the Land Authorities handle the settlement of restitution claims which individuals enforce through various associations (of land and forests owners, etc.).

Some of new owners began farming, some sold their land, but most of them leased the land to the bigger farmers, at 1.5-2 percent of the land value.

The stagnation of land market development still remains. The whole situation may be described as follows:

• Supply and sale is mainly in the smaller acreage plots of average and lower land quality;
• Supply is higher than demand and building lots are mainly sold inside the built-up area.

Land market stagnation have been influenced by the following factors:

• unfinished identification of land ownership;
• disintegration of land ownership;
• low profitability of agricultural capital; and
• the payment disability of farming subjects.

The development of input and output prices

Transition had a strong impact on agricultural output. The disparity of prices between agricultural products and inputs depressed farm profits. Production was compelled to adjust to the slow-down of financial flows and the poorer availability of investment and operating capital due to a declining support for agriculture.

The disparity in the performance between input and output prices had a very negative impact on profitability. Input prices doubled in the first two years of transition from 1989 to 1990, whereas output prices virtually remained unchanged. Until 1997, the prices for agricultural products increased only slowly to 160 percent of the 1989 level. At the same time input prices had skyrocketed to 350 percent. Slovakian producers were severely affected by the widening of the cost-revenue scissors (Graph 1).

The decline in overall input value was less marked than the decline in overall output value. The disparity in the development of input and output value was mainly due to the rapid increase of input prices and the high share between fixed costs. The disparity of prices of agricultural products and inputs widened rapidly in 1991 and 1992 and provoked heavy losses in the whole agricultural sector. Since 1993, the gap narrowed slightly again and since 1994 input and output value has increased more or less in parallel (Graph 2).

THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Environmental degradation caused by agriculture

In Slovakia, the environment suffers basically from the same problems caused by agriculture inmost other CEECs. In Slovakia, the most serious problem is water pollution caused by the unsustained high application of fertilizers and the inappropriate treatment of animal waste during the socialist era. In particular, ground water basins and limnic ecosystems, such as lakes and rivers, are still heavily polluted by an overload of nutrients. Despite the massive extensification in fertilizer application since the beginning of transition, this problem is likely to remain a long-term problem. For this reason, the selection of indicators of resource use and potential environmental impact is very important and has been based on issues of non-sustainability rather than on those of general definition. These effects might be classified into: the use of non renewable resources (fossil energy, phosphorus), the impact on the farm's natural basis for production (the soil), and the impact on the surrounding environment, i.e. the conditions under (groundwater), over (atmosphere) and around (surface water environment, wildlife) and the farm respectively.

Negative effects on biodiversity are partly mitigated by the very large area of Nature Reserves (5 National Parks with 200 000 hectares and 16 protected areas with altogether 700 000 hectares, of which 137 000 hectares are agricultural land), and the counterbalancing impacts of forests. However, in the intensively cropped plains of Slovakia, biodiversity is negatively affected by agriculture.

Agriculture and soil protection

With a total area of 49 035 square kilometres, Slovakia is a bit bigger than Denmark. Half of the area of Slovakia, or 2.45 million hectares, is agricultural land of which arable land makes up 1.45 million hectares. Forests cover over 40 percent of the country (1.99 million hectares), most of which is hilly or mountainous. About 963 000 hectares are grassland. The latter is mainly located in the northern, mountainous parts of the country. Intensive agriculture, partly including the growing of vegetables and of other intensive crops, in particular that of wine, is developed in the Podunajská and Východoslovenská Lowlands and adjacent hills (Map 2). Regions under irrigation, the area of which has been decreasing in recent years, dropped to 54 000 hectares in 1995. In the early 1990s, some 200 000 hectares of land were under irrigation. There is 0.46 hectares of agricultural land and 0.27 hectares of arable land per capita. During transition, land use remained rather unchanged for most of the basic land use categories. There was only a small shift from arable land to permanent grassland.

The most important degradation processes in agriculture are water and wind erosion. In Slovakia, more than 576 thousand hectares of arable land are affected by water erosion. The damage was caused mostly by the wrong use of land, especially by improper plant rotation, very large plots, unsuitable agro-techniques and the improper conversion of grassland to arable land. The average amount of washed away best parts of soil takes 2.8-3.0 million tonnes per year. Water erosion in the mountains is accelerated by the conversion of grassland to arable use.

Roughly 390 000 hectares of arable land are affected by wind erosion in Slovakia. The damage, like that of water erosion, is caused mostly by unsuitable infrastructure and land use, improper tillage, and the insufficient building of windbreaks. Researchers have proved that a loss of a 10 mm layer of humus horizon results in a 2-4 percent loss in yield. Crop yields decline on slightly eroded lands by 20 percent, on medium by 40 percent, and on heavily eroded land up to 70 percent.

Land acidification is, in addition to acid rains, also caused by using physiologically acid fertilizers. In the most fertile soils of the Podunajská and Východoslovenská lowland basins, alkalization is also apparent. This is caused by improper irrigation in localities with an intensive evaporation regime. Irrigation is also limited with high levels of mineralized underground waters. The area of saline land in Slovakia is 70 000 hectares.

In Slovakia more than 700 000 hectares of agricultural land suffers from compaction which is caused by improper agrotechnics (crop rotation, tillage), and especially by the incorrect use of agricultural technology. Biological soil degradation is mostly occasioned by high chemical dosages and soil contamination by other sectors (industry). Nevertheless, certain adverse influences on soil fertility (erosion, contamination of soil and ground water, etc.) continue, for which reason it is necessary to intensify the protection of land through support from the State Fund for the Protection and Cultivation of Agricultural Land (SFPCAL). Since 1995, SFPCAL has released hundred of millions SKKs in support of fertilization measures. However, this still falls short of being sufficient to ensure noticeable progress (as no funds were released for this purpose previously).

Plant and animal production

The rapid diminution of the agricultural land area engendered the replacement of arable land by the so-called supplementary reclamation. From 1945, the agricultural land area shrunk by 300 000 hectares, of which 88 percent was arable land. The supplementary reclamation was often also done on unsuitable terrain where the high costs were not justified by economic return, and the ecological and environmental damage was tremendous. The introduction of large-scale techniques in plant production favoured the technical and economic aspects, which was followed by plot interface. From the view of area dimensions, in Podunajská lowlands had stem 100-200 hectares plots. The introduction of large-scale production in animal production was reflected in the construction of large stables; for cows per 1 000-2 000 pieces, for pigs per 10 000 or more pieces. This was accompanied with the big problems of covering these huge capacities with feed, but much bigger to manage the manure itself, which caused land degradation.

Factors affecting productivity and sustainability on farm level

The land is a production source of national wealth. In the sense of AGENDA 21 (Rio de Janeiro 1992) it should be used sustainably. The new economic and social conditions from 1990 to the present, do not provide any conditions for the principles of the sustainable exploitation of the agricultural landscape, including use of land. Shortcomings are mostly reflected in following land use areas:

• Decrease of nutrient contents: The nutrient content is below the level which is agronomically or environmentally unacceptable, reflected in lowered land production potential. It is caused mostly by low manure production (rapid reduction of animal numbers, for example cows by 50 percent compared with 1990), lower application of industrial composts, sales of straw and also lower ratios of mineral fertilizers. In 1995, 42 kg NPK in industrial fertilizers were applied to one hectare of agricultural land, which represents only 17 percent of the 1989 level. The continuation of this trend will endanger our food self-sufficiency.
• intensive water erosion: Only during the last 20 years, from slopes above five degrees has average 110 mm layer of soil been washed away. According to some authors, the yields on less eroded fields become lower roughly by 20 percent, on fields with medium eroded fields by 40 percent, and in most eroded lands by 70 percent and more.
• land compaction: This is caused by heavy machinery, what is manifested in increased land resistance, due to cultivation and also in increased fuel consumption. A high degree of land compaction is also an obstruction for the broader implementation of land protective technologies (no till technology).
• land acidification: This is caused by use of mineral fertilizers, mostly nitrogen. Land acidification is also increasing by a reduction of manure rations. Moreover, acid atmospheric depositions (imission falls) cause land acidification which has mostly a regional character.
• land alkalization: This is a result of irrigation mostly in locations with evaporation regime and is also limited with the closeness of under ground mineral waters. The area of saline land in Slovak Republic is around 70 000 hectares.
• land sustainability: The land as an important natural source is also weakened by pollution with various contaminants. They are represented by:
• anorganic (non-degradable) contaminants: represented by heavy metals and metalloids accumulating in the soil. In the Slovak Republic, there is 56 percent non-contaminated agricultural land, which is found in those regions with the most productive land. 48 percent of land is indicated as being at risk (exceeding at least at one harmful element A, A1 hygienic limits of MoA No. 531/1994). In the Slovak Republic, roughly 425 000 hectares of agricultural land is under emission pressure. Of this area, 151 000 hectares are manifestly influenced by contaminant immissions which have an acidification influence. The acidification of agricultural land caused by the deposition of SO₂ and NO coinfluenced with physiologically acid fertilizers covers as much as 80 percent of agricultural land.
• the organic (degradable) contaminants: coming from used pesticides, also from crude oil breakdowns and industrial agglomerations.

From the viewpoint of environmental improvement and the protection of agricultural land, the MoA SR specified the objectives of its environmental policy in a document entitled " The concepts and Principles of Agricultural Policy in Slovakia", which states the following main goal:" to cultivate and protect agricultural land, to promote environmental management and to prevent the penetration of alien substances into the food chain". The priorities are to:

• sow grass on steeply sloping and erosion-endangered arable land;
• utilize damaged soil for the production of non-food crops;
• implement an organic method of farming on agricultural land; and
• support entrepreneurial activities aimed at improving the condition of agricultural land.

In the past few years, the ministry managed to fulfil its intentions in the field of environmental protection. Farmers received millions of SKK in subsidies towards seeding steeply sloping and erosion-endangered soils with grass, while the SFPCAL also released millions of SKK to cover the cost of eliminating alien substances from the food chain. The monitoring of alien substances in the soil covers the entire territory of Slovakia. In 1995, monitoring expanded to include the movement of heavy metals in the soil and plants. The first monitoring cycle was completed and evaluated in 1996. The second cycle began in 1997, and also included for the monitoring of forestland. For strengthening sustainability at farm level, support is give to organic production, which began in Slovakia in 1991.

Agriculture and water protection

The loss of nitrogen, (N) from livestock farms may contribute to the increase in the nitrate content in ground water used for drinking water and in the eutrophication of lake waters, thus reducing the biodiversity and the amount of consumable fish. Phosphorus, (P) is not presently leacheding in significant amounts in Slovakia, but can be lost via surface erosion to streams and lakes where it causes eutrophication. The sustainable use of water resources in agriculture is one facet of sustainable agriculture. The main water use is for agricultural production, and secondary uses are those for human and farm activities. Water use for crops comes from both rainfall and irrigation, but human intervention is mainly oriented to irrigation. Water quality is a growing problem. Surface waters become more polluted: low dissolved oxygen, heavy metals and increased faecal coli-forms. This is mainly caused by affluents from industry and urban settlements. However, agriculture is also a cause of pollution, particularly groundwater pollution.

The hydrosphere is an indispensable part of agroecosystems. From the ecological viewpoint, a surplus or shortage aggravates the situation in biocenozis and plant production. The long-term drainage volume of 460 000 hectares of agricultural land in Slovakia cannot be rated as an improvement of ecological production conditions. The drainage of bogs or meadows in lowlands and hills, the drainage of the Výchoslovenská Lowland, and total arable lands and meadows with local springs in hilly regions reduced production and potential soil functions and bio-diversity.

Water sources in Slovakia are unevenly distributed. The average long-term annual capacity of water sources of the country represents an approximate drainage volume of 12.9 billion m³. The volume of border streams flowing through Slovak Republic territory can be added to this amount, but their utilization is limited by international agreements. The applicable capacity of surface water sources remaining after deduction of the essential (from ecological viewpoints) flow volumes in the watercourses (excluding the Danube, Morava and Tisa) is 90.4 m³ s^-1.

Scenarios for the development of long-term average drainage volumes from selected regions of Slovakia for the years 2010, 2030 and 2075 have shown that a decreasing trend in water volume is far more probable than the continuity of the status corresponding to that several decades ago, and that any improvement on that past status is even less probable. The decisive factor seems to be the expected growth of temperature in climatic scenarios. According to these, the southern regions of Slovakia, particularly their lowland areas, would be more influenced by drainage and possibly even become extremely arid zones. A moderate reduction or insignificant change of water volume could be expected in the northern Slovak Republic regions, with their lower locations being more vulnerable. In general, vulnerability in the north of Slovakia would be most apparent in the form of minor changes in the volume of precipitation. With the growth of average temperatures being the key factor.

Plant and animal production

As a result of certain measurements, ground water quality in 1996 was shown to be anthroponically affected in all observed regions, except for regions with low industrial agglomeration density and regions unsuitable for agricultural exploitation. Water eutrophization is frequently caused by qualitative changes of surface river flows and water reservoirs contaminated with household and industrial outflow, but especially by fertilizers removed by rain or erosion. The most important are nitrates and phosphates, and to a lesser degree potassium. This process, which is a reflection of agricultural or communal pollution, is very frequent in irrigation and drainage canals, fishponds and also in bigger reservoirs. Water with a higher chlorophyll content (above 25 mg.m^-3) is defined as strongly eutrophycated, and in 1996 this concentration was excessive in the water reservoirs Kráová nad Váhom, Zemplínska írava, Toky, J Jakubov, and J atín Stráe. Water contamination with nitrates involves many agro-climatic and hydrologic factors and has a regional character with cyclical seasonal alternations. The fountain of anorganic nitrate is outflow from agriculturally used and with mineral nitrate manured soils, atmospheric precipitation and some industrial outflow waters. The source of organic nitrate is often waste wash, dung wash waters, silo outflow and decomposed organic waste. In Slovakia, shallow horizons in lowland regions are mostly endangered. High nitrate concentrations above 50 mg/litre were found in water sources in the Povaie and Ponitrie regions, and also in the Východoslovenská Lowland. In the 1980s, the nitrate content in water sources increased yearly in these regions by more than 4 mg/1iter.

The nitrate presence in potable water sources engender many medical and technical problems. A relatively high nitrate ration in fertilizer batchings in the past was examined in connection to participation in water sources pollution. More than 83 percent of potable water has its origin in underground waters, which are predominantly located in regions with intensive agricultural production. Research between 1980 and 1985 showed that in water pollution caused by agricultural production, square pollution was more prevalent than dot pollution. The following three factors are dominant in square pollution:

• high, and often unnecessary, dosages of mineral and organic fertilizers in the soil, including a wide range of pesticides, mainly herbicides (period before 1989);
• water erosion on arable land caused not only by geomorphological conditions, but also by unsuitable plant choice, plant rotation and agrotechnics; and
• incorrect plant choice and rotation in Hygienic Protection Bands No. 2 and also in plains, from the viewpoint of potable water protection, usually in the river.

From research, is has been found that the trend of increasing nitrate contents in underground waters from 1982 has not stopped, even after 1993 when the use of nitrate fertilizers plummeted (28,4 kg N/ha of agricultural land).

Pesticides can also be transported to ponds, rivers and underground waters by the wind. Long term effects are developed with the constant use of pesticides which are not degradable.

Until 1989, animal production was characterized by a high intensity with up to industrial dimensions of production (poultry, pigs and also cows). More than 75 percent of laying chickens and broilers was raised on large capacity farms with a concentration between 0.2 and 0.5 million birds; pig breeding more than 35 percent in concentrations above 1 000 (up to 15 000), and more than 20 percent of cows were raised on large capacity farms. All this very heavily damaged our environment. Litterless, cattle and pig houses in animal production were used also in ecologically very fragile regions such as in itný ostrov (Wheat Island), which is the biggest aquifer in Europe. For example, in the Hygienic Protection Bands of this region there were more than 90 000 cattle houses. A big burden was also the 79 high capacity pig farms with over 3 000 pigs each. In Slovakia, 11 million tonnes of fresh manure was produced yearly, and the problem was more serious with pig manure, because the houses were built without outlying agricultural land.

Hundred tonnes of silage fodder creates roughly 20 tonnes of silage liquid, which contains 200-300 kg N - substances and 200-300 kg of organic acids. Before 1989, Slovakia produced ca 1.4 million tonnes of silage liquid which was put into the environment. In the "Project for high capacity farms and agro-centres situated in the Slovak Republic", 3 660 farms were evaluated, of which only 266 was satisfactory from the viewpoint of environment protection. Some capacities were built in places which were later promulgated as a Hygienic Protection Band.

The negative sides of high capacity animal production technologies on water pollution were manifested:

• with water contamination by manure and manure heaps, stable outflows, silage liquid, veterinary medicines, bio-factors etc.;
• with the incorrect application of fluid and solid organic fertilizers, and the consequent flow or leakage of nutrients into potable water sources.

At the present time, the amount of excrement in Slovakia has fundamentally decreased because of a reduction in animal numbers. Most litterless cattle houses have been reconstructed and replaced by other more ecological and ethological friendly technologies.

As mentioned, pollution with nitrogen and the high use of pesticides are considered major environmental problems in connection with Slovak agriculture. The high use of pesticides is also connected to livestock farming, since crop production is considered as an important and integrated part of most livestock farms. One way to look at these problems is to look at the trade-off between e.g. the input of nitrogen and the level of production. This can be done in a classic agricultural experiment. The problem, however, is that a livestock farm is very complex and there is a huge number of combinations of input factors. It is therefore very resource demanding and time consuming to create knowledge solely through experiments within existing agricultural systems.

In organic farming, synthetic fertilizer and pesticides are not used. A crop rotation including perennial and N-fixing crops, together with the use of fertilizer of organic origin, is regarded as fundamental for an environmentally friendly and productive farming system. Organic farming therefore offers a better framework for obtaining knowledge and doing research than conventional farming systems do. This, in combination with the increased general interest in organically produced food, has resulted in research efforts within organic production systems in Slovakia for the purpose of producing knowledge about sustainable agriculture systems.

Factors affecting productivity and sustainability at farm level

Agriculture in the Slovak Republic contributes about 40 percent to the pollution of watersources (Gábriš at all, 1998). At the moment, about 65 000 sources of area and spot water pollution (mostly plant production) are registered.

The economic function of water (function of sustainability) lies in the use of it in industrial and agricultural production (specially in food processing). In the Slovak Republic 1994, 25 372 l.s^-1 of water was used (of this 19 301 l.s^-1 in industry). Of the estimated underground sources in Slovakia, roughly half is used. In 1995, 382 849 th.m3.r^-1 was used for irrigation. Recently, the use of irrigation is decreasing, mostly due to water quality, which is becoming a serious problem. The amount of water of first class quality (suitable for irrigation) represents 31.6 percent; of second class (conditionally suitable for irrigation) 43,1 percent, and of third class (water unsuitable) 25,3 percent. The purest irrigation water is located in the Danube River Basin. The water used in animal production is obtained mostly from private wells which cover 80 percent of consumption. In recent years, not only around the world but also in Slovakia, the situation of the water balance in rural regions is worsening.

The reasons for the worsening water balance are the following:

• changes in natural and climatic conditions;
• changes in land use (from 1965 to 1990, 90 000 hectares of meadows and pastures were ploughed and changed into arable land. Perennials represent a significant eco - stabilizing factor in the landscape, mostly from the point of view of water retention and water protection from pollution in the agricultural landscape); and
• human use of water without respecting the rules of energy flow and hydrological cycles.

The ecological landscape system in Slovakia, from the hydrological point of view, was influenced by the construction of hydro-melioration devises (irrigation on 320 000 hectares, drained land on 458 500 hectares (Húska, 1998).

The positive impacts of hydro-melioration equipment influencing productivity (sustainability) are:

• stabilization of agricultural production at wetter supply, production of fodder and consequently animal production;
• higher manure production which positively influences soil fertility and sustainability;
• higher economic efficiency of production and of agricultural subjects (economic dimension of sustainability);
• stabilization and higher incomes for employers in agriculture (mostly in the previous regime); and
• more effective use of national water potential.

The negative impacts are:

• disregard of environmental functions;
• deterioration of conditions for water birds (biodiversity reduction);
• destruction of wood vegetation; and
• change in the original vegetation and worsening conditions for moisture-looing fauna (impoverishment of zoocenoses).

The problems identified above call for new innovative issues in water management in such a way that development not only sustains the fast growing and urbanized population, but is also sustainable, i.e., resource preserving, environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable, socially acceptable and human oriented.

Assuming the challenges above, the following aspects need to be considered as first priority:

• evaluating the potential of irrigation as a means for environmentally sustainable land use and food production, as well as the potential adverse environmental impacts resulting from neglecting or abandoning irrigation systems;
• the development of appropriate tools for assessing and controlling the impacts of using low quality water irrigated agriculture, and appropriate techniques for the maintenance of waste water systems;
• improve land evaluation criteria and methodologies for irrigation planning to include the assessment of the impacts on the environment.

Water quality management needs to concern:

• water quality monitoring, including the development of reduced cost methods of assessment and standards for chemical, physical and biological loads, and the aspects relative to pollution from agro-chemicals;
• economic and effective mechanisms for the disposal or reuse of drainage water, and agricultural wastes, particularly in arid and semiarid lands;
• appropriate methods for waste water treatment for agriculture reuse;
• better management practices to minimize water quality degradation in irrigated agriculture.

High priorities should be given to those technical aspects oriented toward modernizing irrigation and drainage systems; top development of locally adapted water-efficient on-farm irrigation technologies; integrated irrigation and fertilizer management including fertigation, chemigation and irrigation scheduling; enhanced methods for field evaluation of on-farm and off-farm system performances and systems; monitoring, including water supply, water quality, salinization; and environmental, economic and social impacts. Innovative issues are required to make water management effective. They concern the mechanisms to improve the user's participation and to strengthen the institutions involved in water resources planning and management, as well as the laws and regulations relative to water policies.

Agriculture and air protection

The emissions of greenhouse gases in Slovakia reached their highest level in the late 1980s. In the period 1990-1994, this level dropped by 25 percent and from 1994 we are registering a slight increase. The use of fossil energy is of interest because it is a non-renewable resource and because combustion contributes to global warming. Air pollution is caused by a high energetic input in the form of fossil fuels, releasing the greenhouse gas carbon oxide (CO₂) and also emissions of methane and ammonia. Greenhouse gases released by agricultural activities include methane, carbon oxide and nitric oxide. A very important greenhouse gas is methane (CH₄), which is generated by the anaerobic decomposition of organic substances. In the environment, it is naturally released in bogs. In agriculture, it is also created in cow and sheep digestive tracts and also in all operation outlets with an imperfect combustion of organic substances. One methane molecule from animal production causes 40 times more danger in its greenhouse effect than carbon oxide. The fundamental portion of CH₄ comes from animal excrements. The multitude of methane emissions from animal production depends on: the intensity of animal production; the way of animal placed; manure holding; and the method of manure application.

The step up in milk production and the transition to literrless technology after 1990, decreased the production of greenhouse gases (by number reduction, and more intensive energy exploitation). A gas reduction of 20-90 percent is caused by manure management (technology, time, soil type and plant). Qualified judgement showed that in 1988 animal production produced more than 180 Gg CH₄.

In 1997, the Slovak agricultural contribution to all greenhouse gases emissions was around 7 percent. Most methane is produced in agriculture: 46 percent. The other pollution gas is N₂O, which is generated by a mineral nitrate surplus in the soil as a result of a combination of intensive field manuring by industrial manure and a poor air regime in the soil. The release of nitrate gases from the soil into the air is a part of the natural mechanisms of N in nature. It is generated as a result of biological processes in the soil (de-nitrification, nitrification). Every year, on average 4-7 Gg A-N₂O is released in Slovakia, which is only 0.09-0.016 percent of the whole world's production of A-N₂O from agricultural land. The amount of deposited N in Slovak Republic in 1995 was 2 500 tonnes.

Agriculture and its impact on landscape

The activities of intensive agricultural production in the former economic regime have had more negative impacts on agriculture landscape. The semi-natural grass-covered grounds which for many hundreds of years were environmentally managed (such as mowed meadows and pastures) represent the highest diversity of species and plant societies in agricultural land in Slovakia.

In the last few decades, the meadow ecosystems in Slovakia have been considerably changed. Natural meadows in the alpine zone are significantly endangered by global climate warming. Copses in higher mountain ranges are also endangered. The abandoning of traditional farming methods, and the pasturing of enormous sheep and cattle herds, which were considerably reduced in size after 1990, resulted in the degradation and reduction in species diversity. In this way, mountain ranges in regions of the Lower Tatras, Poana and Eastern Karpaty, and others (Uhliarová, Krištín, at all. 1998) were changed. In the last 40 years, many semi-natural meadows and pastures were transformed into intensive grass fields and the original species composition was substantially changed. In the sub-mountainous and mountainous regions of Slovakia, there are an increasing number of abandoned meadows. The meadows are often extremely steep and not reachable by mechanization, and thus for the owners they are economically worthless. The tilling of meadows also contributed to the loss of natural copses. The semi-natural meadow ecosystems, particularly mezofilic meadows and meadows on the flood plains of lowland rivers, should be listed among the most endangered plant societies in Slovakia.

It is extremely important to save our gene fund because there are many precious, endangered, endemic and relict plant and animal species. They are very important also from the standpoint of anti-erosion land protection. In the last few decades, large areas of xerotherm vegetation have been ruined. The main factors causing this situation were tilling, afforestation with non-native trees (locust tree, pine), cutting and constructing recreational houses.

In the most intensive lowland areas, where large-scale technology was most disseminated (enterprises with 3-5 000 hectares of agricultural land), the former varied landscape changed into a uniform landscape type; the "agricultural type" or "cultural steppe". Large-scale intensive agricultural production left enormous environmental damage in the agricultural landscape. It was manifested by joining plots and the removal of functional fresh vegetation, without consideration in landscape configuration and the principal ecological linkages. Plot enlargement was done without respect to the criteria of land and ecological anti-erosion protection. This situation in principle still exists.

Taking into account agriculture-related problems, the following improvements seem to be desirable in order to make farming systems more sustainable:

• "ecologization": prevention and/or minimization of environmental pollution through overall management in the use of agricultural inputs;
• production of more "nature" and (bio)diversity on farms;
• ensure stable and fair income for farmers allowing them to maintain their dignity and function in society;
• a higher degree of ethical and political acceptability; and
• overall farm management and yields should be improved.

Agriculture and biodiversity

The results of an analysis on agriculture in Slovakia show that there are new threats to biodiversity. These are: production intensification, destruction of biothopes, and changes in the environmental conditions in agricultural landscape. All the above mentioned categories lead to a reduction in natural and semi-natural areas, to a retreat of the key, precious and endangered species, and also to genofund reductions in cultural plant species and varieties and domesticated animal breeds.

The protection of ecological stability and biodiversity in the agricultural landscape is strongly dependent on schemes of natural resource exploitation and also on agricultural landscape management. Intensively managed ecosystems of type "ager" on the arable land in the Slovak Republic are focused on large-scale crop production, and they occupy the largest portion of agricultural land in lowland regions. They are characterized by minimal biodiversity. In comparison with the lowlands, the biodiversity of mountainous and sub-mountainous regions in the Slovak Republic is much higher. Participating there are many secondary ecosystems, such as meadows, rationally exploited pastures, orchards, vineyards and others which arose as a result of human activity in original climax forest associations. To sustain their ecological stability, additional efforts are needed (for example mowing) to prevent secondary succession. Also meadows, pastures and orchards in sub-mountainous and mountainous regions significantly participate in global national biodiversity.

From the viewpoint of plant and animal biodiversity, probably the richest was the traditionally managed agricultural landscape, which endured in Slovakia until the beginning of the second half of the 20th century. The large number of species and areas of diverse plant associations and their associated animal groups secured:

• a great variety of agricultural systems and proceedings;
• prevailing extensive and semi-extensive exploitation of agricultural land;
• low inputs of additional energy (chemicals fuels) and manure with organic manure; and
• accommodation of plants to existing natural conditions without expressive interactions to ecological conditions.

With agricultural intensification (connected with high additional energy and material inputs, mostly chemicals) and also with industrial development after World War II on Slovakia's territory, land, air, ground, and surface water pollution increased, and at the same time rapidly reduced the diversity of vegetation and animals. In this process of environmental pollution, agriculture, as well as industry, played a conspicuous role. Ecosystem modifications on agricultural land resulted in more plant species and their associations being put on the list of endangered species and associations. In the Red Book Flora Base of 1993, there are 934 endangered species of wild plants (37,45 percent), 902 species of mosses (48,3 percent), and 1493 lichens (39,0 percent).

The agricultural landscape belongs to eight of the most important groups of animal biotopes (habitats) in Europe, where it is dominant and covers around 50 percent of the continent's area (5 million km²). This habitat is the environment for the reproduction of 173 endangered bird species, of which 70 percent has unfavourable protection status in Europe. Development in Europe has led to traditional schemes of landscape exploitation on smaller areas being abandoned, which has resulted in a reduction in, and a loss of, ecologically rich areas. Some exceptions are areas in Slovakia which were not suitable for large-scale exploitation, mostly because of their very broken terrain or harsh climatic conditions (for example Juné Podpolanie, Orava, Kysuce).

Among the most endangered European birds that depend on agricultural land, the following are found in Slovakia: Species category Spec.1; species living in Europe and generally endangered. Of four species in this highest endangered category which are found in Slovakia, three depend on the agricultural landscape: Aquila heliaca, Crex Crex and Otis Tarda. Species category Spec.2 consists of the species concentrated in Europe which are endangered, and whose survival depends on the extreme protection of their habitats. 15 species in this second highest endangered category are significantly bound to the agricultural landscape. There are also other bird species which are not concentrated in Europe that are strongly influenced by negative agricultural factors (species Category Spec. 3.). They are species which feed and nest in the agricultural landscape. To this group belong Falco, Perdix perdix, Coturnix coturnix, Bubo bubo Jynx torquilla, Picau canus and others. These constitute another 18 species, which together with the previous 31 endangered species, (that is almost 10 percent of Slovakia's avifauna), are strongly under negative agricultural influence.

High performing mechanization also significantly caused biotic components of agroecosystems. Agro-technique, together with chemical application, reduced edafic groups of small invertebrates, amphibious animals, reptiles, birds and mammals, whose bionomy is immediately connected with land environment. Mechanization has resulted in significant changes in the population dynamics of some species, primarily in changes of natality, mortality, migration and feeding regimes. For those reasons, biodiversity protection must solve those conflicts between agricultural activities and nature and landscape protection. One complex solution calls for system changes and the integration of agricultural and environmental policy.

Effects of environmental degradation on agriculture

Striving to assess natural resources and functions from the point of view of the economy, brings us to the concept of environmental capital. It consists of all natural resources, functions and processes supporting life while, at the same time, enabling human society to produce food, clothes, and shelter, as well as other products for human consumption. Evidently, only a society which can direct its economics without continuously exploiting this environmental capital can survive into the future. This society can be called "sustainable".

In Slovakia, the demand for raw material sources of the best quality has resulted in their intensive exploitation in the past, with no regard to the environmental situation of regions. Energy consumption in the metallurgical and chemical industries and in the production of cement and construction materials was very high per capita in Slovakia during the previous regime, and mostly used lower quality coal with a high production of SO₂ (i.e. 4 times more than in Austria). The generated acid rain destroyed the mineral and organic components of the soil. The movement of toxic elements is rapid and rises in concentration in soil solution (Mn, Al, Fe, Ca). In this way acid rain facilitates the absorption of these elements into food chains; it increases soil erosion, and the quality of agricultural and forest soils frequently falls.

Metalization causes the worst contamination of soils. It is very difficult to remove, and itsconsequences will be lasting, even after its removal from the air. In Slovakia, measurable quantities of mercury, cadmium, chromium, and lead are found in the soil. The influence of heavy metals on soil fertility and the bio-energetic quality of soils and phytocenosis depends on their specific properties and soil type, and also on the quantity of heavy metals. The highest accumulation is observed in hard soils. In the sand, soils' heavy metals have penetrated into ground layers and down to the ground water. Research results have proved the relationship between the quality of absorbent heavy metals and soil acidity. In the Institute of Soil Fertility in Bratislava and in the University of Agriculture in Nitra, this problem has been studied very intensively.

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIETY ON THE AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

The necessity of finding asolution to environmental problems requires social recognition. The aim is to achieve cooperation between various interest and power groups. There are four major groups: governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, the business sector and local administration. From this point of view, the position of traditional nature conservation starts to be gradually replaced by cooperative efforts of the parties concerned to safeguard it and to make natural resources sustainable.

Institutional change within the environmental policy

An important step forward in the protection of natural resources was the establishment of the Slovak Commission for Environment (SKZP) by the Act of SNR No. 96/1990 Digest. The SKZP has become the central authority of state administration for environmental protection and nature conservation, the protection of the quality and quantity of waters and their rational use, the protection of air, territorial planning and housing regulations, the treatment of the solid wastes, the providing of a unified information system on the environment and monitoring in the territory of the Slovak Republic. By the Act of SNR No. 453/1992, the SKZP was transformed into the Ministry for Environment which also became the central authority of the state for geological research and survey. In 1992, the Ministry of Forestry and Water Management fused with the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation, whereby a new Ministry of Soil Management was established.

Following the central authorities of state administration, there has also emerged a new system of territorial authorities. An important contribution was adopted by the Act of SNR No. 595/1990 on the State Administration of the Environment, establishing a specific system of territorial authorities of an interdisciplinary character, enabling administration in the line with the requirements of the respective central authority, that is the Ministry of Environment. State administration concerned with the conservation and protection of the environment in the territory was exercised by the district bureaus for the environment, municipal bureaus for the environment, Slovak inspection of environment and the municipalities. Expert organizations, the founder of which is the Ministry of Environment, are: the Administration of national parks of the Slovak Republic, the Administration of Slovak Caves, the Slovak Agency for the Environment including also the administration of Protected Landscape Areas, the Slovak Hydrometeorogical Institute, and the Geological Service for the Slovak Republic.

Environmental policy related to agriculture

Agriculture is narrowly linked with economic, social, cultural, and rural development. Lately, many of the social and economic securities of rural inhabitants diminished, due to the influence of social and economical transition. They were represented by the job opportunities security in state supported agricultural enterprises and in cheap communication to industrial enterprises.

The Ministry of Agriculture in connection with the Governmental Programme Declaration supports the existing and up to now coordinated initiatives of rural development by establishing the Rural Development Agency, and subsidising those farmers who farm under less favourable natural and climatic conditions (a system of subsidies, including sheep premiums; compensation for a permanent change of crops; and support of supplementary activities).

One of the goals of the Agricultural Policy is to preserve farming in less competitive areas in order to preserve the landscape by preserving the former settlements and creating new jobs for them. Clearly, small private farmers in these areas depend on government support, particularly in the form of subsidies. This solution conforms with the type of support provided to farmers in the EU.

Because the number of beehives is falling every year, and we will thus have to face a reduction in fruit and vegetables yields by insufficient pollination, a support is paid to beekeepers. The number of beehives in 1995 was 4.06 percent lower than in 1994, and in 1996 lower by 13.7 percent than in 1995.This support will run counter to efforts to support fruit and vegetables growing and is at variance with the National Health Support Programme.

Apart from the regionalization of the country, pursuant of EU criteria, it is necessary to prepare specific development projects for individual, newly defined regions, including appropriate legislative measures for their implementation. Due to heavy losses in viticulture, growers uproot vineyards rather than investing in their (extremely costly) restoration and maintenance. The growing and production of varieties of vine strains has been substantially reduced, which causes changes in traditional regional landscape. Excise tax payable on the entire wine output represents SKK 300 million annually. The ministry suggested that 50 percent of the money paid in excise taxes on wine be transferred from the state budget to the budget of the MA SR who would redistribute it to support the vintner's investments in vineyards and help them overcome the recession that viticulture has been in for several years.

Legislative and institutional framework for a national agri-environmental policy

According to the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, of natural resources in the ownership of the state, only mineral resources, groundwaters, natural health resources and water flows remained.

In the sector of agriculture, the role of state administration is fulfilled by the Centres of Regional Land and the Information Service, as the organizational entities of the Ministry of Soil Management. The changes in the ownership of natural resources were brought about by adoption of Act No. 229/1991 on the Regulation of Ownership Relations to Land and Other Agricultural Property. The Act was adopted in order to alleviate some property injustices from the past. The tasks of the state concerned with the restoration of property rights and the regulation of land ownership are performed by the land bureaus.

On 24 July 1996, two important acts were brought into force: the Act of NR SR (National Council of the Slovak Republic) No. 221/1996 on the Territorial and Administrative Division of the Slovak Republic and the Act of NR SR No. 222/1996 on the Organization of Local State Administration and the change and amendment of certain acts. In this way, the reform of state administration was enforced. The reform of municipalities administration is prepared as of an act on higher territorial entities which will determine their position, relation to state administration, and their bodies. In terms of the approved Act No. 221/1996 the Slovak Republic has been divided into 8 region and 79 districts.

The specific position of the specialized state administration for environment / the bureaus for the environment and forestry commissions - was abolished and these have been included into the district and regional authorities as separate departments. However, we believe, that the present state of the environment, its protection and, after many years of economic growth preferences without the protection of the environment, demands supra-departmental, independent decision-making, separate from other activities in the area.

Laws and directives on the use of inputs

Input prices for materials and energy, which in the former regime were kept at low levels by means of state subsidies, have now undergone transformation to market prices. The disparity between prices of agricultural products and production inputs to agriculture depressed profits. Production was compelled to adjustment by the slow-down of financial flows and the poorer availability of investment and operating capital. A lowered demand also called for a change in the output structure, as well as a more streamlined utilization of resources, which became more difficult to get for agricultural producers.

The disparity in input and output prices had a very negative impact on agriculture in general. To avoid an unwise future use of inputs with the aim of intensifying production, the following laws and regulation were accepted:

• Act No. 61/1964 Development of plan production (specifies principles for field crops);
• Regulation of MA SSR No. 5000/1962 Digest, Resource protection (assigns principles of mineral N and organic fertilizer application in areas of water sources and saves them from agricultural pollution);
• Regulation of MA SSR No. 5001/1982 (manipulation and fertilization with slurry and liquidation of silage juices);
• Czechoslovakian state standard CSN No. 465810 relates to aerial field crop care and fertilization;
• Standard No. 73 6992, Irrigation with washout waters and slurry; and
• Act of fertilizers, and the Act of land erosion are under preparation.

Laws and directives on the protection of natural resources in agriculture

The protection and cultivation of agricultural land is provided through legislative, agro-technical and organizational measures, namely Act 307/1992 (The Agricultural Land Protection Act). Further to this act, the MA SR issued Resolution No. 531/1994-540 (dated January 1995), which prescribes acceptable levels of deleterious substances in soil and stipulates the institutions entitled to measure the levels of these substances. Later, the government issued Resolution No. 152/1996, regulating the rate of compensation for the withdrawal from cultivation of agricultural land, which took effect on 1^st June 1996. These legislative measures have curbed the shrinkage in the total amount of agricultural land in recent years.

The environmental policies of the state are based on the Constitution of the Slovak Republic of 1 September 1992, containing a separate part on the rights and duties of all subjects to the environment. For nature conservation, paragraph 6 of Chapter II is the most important. In 1993, the government and the parliament approved an important document, the "Strategy, Principles and Priorities of the State Environmental Policies of the Slovak Republic" which briefly characterizes the present state of the environment in Slovakia and proposes 70 short-term aims (to 1996), 59 aims for the period 2000-2010 and 33 general and partial long-term (2010-2030). This document defines five fundamental priorities of state environmental policies.

In the Slovak Republic, more than 700 regulations of different legal force are concerned with the field of the environment, of which more than 600 are related to the protection of specific areas and objects. One hundred further regulations have a wider scope, e.g. mining law, forest law, etc. Although before November 1989 the environmental law already existed, of environmental law legislation since that time developed in an extraordinary way. In 1994, in connection with and tied to the UNCED and AGENDA 21, the Act of NR SR No. 287/94 Digest on Nature and landscape protection was approved, as a basis for farming and exploitation of agricultural land in protected areas.

Other important acts adopted in Slovakia since 1989 are:

• Act No. 17/1992 on the Environment in reading of further amendments;
• Act of NR SR No. 127/1994 on Environmental Impact Assessment;
• Act of NR SR No. 287/1994 on Nature and Landscape Protection in reading of the Act of NR SR No. 222/1996 on the Organization of Local Government and on the supplementing of some acts;
• Act No. 309/1991 on the Protection of Air Against Polluting Substances in reading of further regulations (complete reading No.31/1995);
• Act No. 238/1991 on Wastes in reading of further amendments;
• Act of SNR No. 307/1992 on the Protection of Agricultural Land Fund;
• Act No. 131/1991 on the State Fund of Forest Enhancement;
• Act No. 318/1991 on the State Fund of Water Management;
• Act No. 240/1998 on Agriculture;
• Act No. 224/1998 on Ecological agriculture and bio-food production; and
• Act No. 309/1991 on Air protection.

National measures on the promotion of ecologically sound agricultural practices

Act on Nature and Landscape Conservation

The corner stone of legal regulations of nature and landscape conservation is the Act of NR SR No. 287/1994 on Nature and Landscape Conservation. The Act introduces the system of nature and landscape conservation, of their components and their elements. It establishes the principles for the care of nature and the landscape and their relationship to the protection of specific natural components, the basic duties of juridical and physical persons, as well as the components, duties and policies of state nature conservation authorities. It decreases the number of categories of protected areas in accordance with international categorization (national park, protected landscape areas, nature reserves, national nature reserve, nature monuments, national nature monuments). The classic economic tools, such as prohibitions, orders, dues and fines are applied e.g. in the acts on the protection of air, on waste, on nature, and landscape conservation, on offenses, and in the act on local dues.

The "State Fund for the Protection and Enhancement of Agricultural Land" (SFPEAL)⁴⁴ provides support in line with those priorities established in 1996, which were later rectified to reflect the needs of primary agricultural producers. SFPEAL administers some 1 billion crowns and provides funds to support:

• the completion of soil improvement and reclamation projects in progress, the necessary reconstruction and restoration of major related facilities owned by the state , or construction of new facilities;
• the restoration of irrigation systems, purchase of irrigation installations, or reconstruction of existing obsolete installations;
• soil sweetening, which farmers most frequently request as soil-improvement;
• increased contents of organic substances in soil;
• initiation of a concise programme of anti-erosion measures; and
• solutions for long-term waterlogged soils (e.g. to be set aside as ecological areas).

The importance of national environmental associations and organizations for environmental policy

Financial resources from the state budget for environmental conservation and enhancement were divided among the allocations to the individual departments. Since January 1997, separate allocations of the state budget provide for the budgets of regional authorities, including the resources for environmental conservation and enhancement. The municipalities themselves have no independence in creating their own resources for coping with environmental problems (especially for ecological infrastructure), for this reason a very important role belongs to the civil society organizations.

The "Green face" of civil society organization

After the political change in the country, many green non-governmental organization appeared. It is difficult to determine precisely the number of these organizations because this number is under constant change. Some of most important are enumerated:

• Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Conservationists (SZOPK);
• Strom ivota (Tree of life);
• Society for Sustainable Living (STUZ);
• Association of National Parks and Protected Landscape Areas;
• Slovak River Network;
• Forest Association VLK (WOLF);
• Association of the nature conservationists of North - Eastern Slovakia - the POLA; and
• Carpathian Nature Conservation Association of Altruists (KOZA).

The importance of private and non-profit organizations

In Slovakia, there is a multitude of other organizations mostly acting at the local level. As the existing tax-system does not sufficiently support sponsorship, most of the Slovak foundations finance almost exclusively only their own activities. The conditions of their functioning are now strictly limited by the new Act on Foundations. Nature and environment conservation-oriented NGOs are the organizations least endowed by the state. They may send their grant proposals to e.g. the Fund for the Environment and the Fund for Culture Pro Slovakia, as well as to certain Ministries (the Ministry of Education, the Ministry for environment, the Ministry for Culture). Although environmental organizations, due to a lack of financial resources and supportive economic tools, struggle with inadequate material, technical, spatial and economic conditions, they represent a significant proportion of civil society which deserves much higher support than they receive today. They are:

• the Sosna Foundation supporting conservation movements in Eastern Slovakia, concentrates on ecological education and green publications.
• the "Return to the Country" Foundation supporting historic buildings of the country, concentrates on the economic and cultural revival of the village.
• Zelená nádej (Green Perspective) Foundation solving the problems of the Torysa and Topla river catchment-basins.
• the Zelená alternatíva (Green Alternative) Foundation (since 1997 The Living Planet civic association) protecting valuable territories in the Pieany region, activities against the Winter Olympic Games, as well as publishing green literature on global issues.
• the Ecology and Life Foundation which issues a quarterly bulletin of the same name, devoted to significant global and local environmental problems, tries to integrate science and ethics.
• the Slovak environmental computer network SEPS promotes electronic communication between various subjects devoted to the protection of the environment.
• the Foundation for energy savings and the protection of the environment in the villages organizes seminars and lectures for village and town inhabitants concerning energy savings.
• the Daphne Foundation concerning applied environmental research, applies scientific knowledge in nature conservation, successful work includes the protection of Morava River's surroundings.

CONCLUSIONS

Agricultural research should prepare an experience/knowledge base for the consistent transformation (restructuring) of agricultural production in respect to specific land and ecological conditions, implementation (by the EU for example) of measures on applying special farming systems in sensitive regions (including financial reimbursement for loses), and also steps for the evaluation of the effects of agricultural production. Research is also obliged to prepare other recommendations for lowering inputs and increasing the effectiveness of agricultural production.

The reorientation of agricultural policies will create the need for re-instrumentation. Traditional agricultural policies, heavily biased towards price support, are going to be phased out. Direct payments will have to become better targeted, more cost-efficient and de-coupled from farm production or factors of production. If these conditions are fulfilled, they could provide an important tool to respond to the multifunctional role of agriculture, in particular in relation to the environment and sustainable agricultural and rural development. Finally, there is also the need for better assessment of policy developments that have taken place in CEEC´s those under way, and policy alternatives in the future. The growing interdependencies of developments in the agri-food sector means that more emphasis will have to be placed on the optimal policy mix. This includes the need to analyse impacts on farm incomes, structural adjustment, environmental quality, rural development, trade and the functioning of the agricultural world markets.

REFERENCES

Blass, G. 1997. Agricultural Policy in Slovakia, unpublished manuscript.

Boik, M. 1998. "AGENDA 2000" and its impact to Slovak agriculture from the EU Common Agricultural Policy point of view.

Ková, K. 1996. Steering towards sustainable development in Slovak Agriculture.

Ková, K., Hrako, J., Lacko-Bartoová. 1998. Sustainable Agriculture.

Ková, K. 1998. Biodiversity Protection and Ecological Agriculture in EU Agri-environmental Programmes.

Ková,K., Krajovi,V. 1998. Agri-environmentálny programme pre Slovensko, I. Analýza environmentálnej situácie, IUCN, Svetová únia ochrany prírody, AVALON Foundation

Uhliarová, E., Krištín, A. Biodiverzita vegetácie a zoocenóz v ponohospodárskej krajine, In: Ková, K., Krajovi,V. a kol.: Agri-environmentálny programme pre Slovensko.

Gábri, . et al. 1998. Ochrana a tvorba ivotného prostredia v ponohospodárstve, Nitra.

Húska, D. 1998. Environmental Issues related to Land and Water Management in Slovakia, Workshop, Agriculture and rural development, Poznan, Sielinko.

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Hronec, O. 1995. Exhalats and their Consequences on the Soil and vegetation in the Condition of Slovakia, Food Research Institute, Bratislava.

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ANNEX

Table 1: Importance of agriculture

* Excluding forestry, share of agriculture expressed in gross value added from agricultural account

** Data from Slovak Statistical Office, excluding forestry and intrasectorial intermediate consumption in agriculture

Source: SBS, VUEPP, DG VI calculations

Table 2: Land use in Slovakia

Source: EU Working Document 1998: Agricultural Situation and prospects in the Central and Eastern European countries.

Table 3: Farm structure 1996/97 compared to 1989/90

Source: EU Working document 1998: Agricultural Situation and prospects in the Central and Eastern European countries.

Table 4: Fertilizer consumption

Source: VUEPP/RIAFE, data SBS

Graph 1: Development of food retail price and farm-input and output prices

Source: EU Working Document 1998: Agricultural Situation and prospects in the Central and Eastern European countries

Graph 2: Development of farm input and output

Source: EU Working Document 1998: Agricultural Situation and prospects in the Central and Eastern European countries.

44 Proposals for the operation of SFPEAL (founded by Act 307/92) are based on the Principles and Guidelines No. 1075/1995-320 of the Ministry of Agriculture.