ABSTRACT
Slovakia’s international reputation is based on images of an authoritarian government, the meshing of politics and economics, as well as discrimination against Hungarian minorities. The new Slovakian government considers the goals of stemming economic decline, joblessness and the fiscal deficit; privatizing the banking sector; and investigating and reversing “illegal” privatization activities to be of primary importance. Slovakia lies east of the line formed by Znaim, Brunn and Ostravia. Agricultural production was 56.05 billion Sk, with crop production making up 41.6 and livestock production 58.4 percent of total output. Potato farming has experienced especially severe reductions since the beginning of the transformation period. Harvested area and production were only 52.4 and 55.3 percent of 1990 levels. The overall Slovakian agricultural policy objective is to ensure a stable supply of food and to gradually improve the population’s nutrition levels; this includes reaching a self-sufficiency rate of 90 percent for major agricultural products.
