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Environmental Efficiency of Agriculture in Visegrád Group Countries vs. the EU and the World
The production of foodstuffs for an ever-increasing population is the basic, irreducible and unalienable function of agriculture. It involves environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions. This is what makes it so important to examine the levels of environmental efficiency of agriculture. As countries differ in their emission levels, it is reasonable to look for what determines them. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify the changes in the environmental efficiency of agriculture in Visegrád Group countries and worldwide in 1961–2020. These countries share a similar economic history and demonstrate comparable environmental and geographic conditions, making it possible to pinpoint the factors responsible for how the parameters covered by the study change over time. The research used data from the FAOSTAT database. Environmental efficiency of agriculture was defined as the relationship between production volumes in kilocalories and emissions. Initially, this parameter deteriorated in the Visegrád countries, but since the late 1970s it has improved, first linked to the crisis of the socialist economy and its collapse (including a drastic decline in livestock production) and then to the implementation of CAP instruments.
Natural and Anthropogenic Determinants of Productivity, Emission Intensity and Environmental Efficiency of Central Asian Countries Against a Worldwide Background
The study is devoted to determining the factors affecting the volume of agricultural production, the ability to meet the food needs of populations, as well as the environmental efficiency of production, defined as the ratio of the number of kilocalories produced by the agricultural sector to the amount of greenhouse gasses it emits. Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) were chosen as an example. They are characterized by similar natural conditions (mainly dry, continental climate, and the dominant role of permanent grassland in agricultural land use), as well as a common economic history (as former republics of the USSR). As shown in this study, land productivity and environmental efficiency of production depend on natural factors, while the actual ability to meet each nation’s food needs depends on human activity, including primary measures taken to improve environmental efficiency within natural limits.