Abstract

Spatial changes in the structure of crop production have the potential to impact economics and food security in Slovakia. The objective of this study was to analyze the modification of harvested areas, the production and yields of selected crops—cereals, oilseeds, and perennial forages—and their food and non-food use from 2004 to 2020. The results indicated that an increase in the cultivation of large-scale crops (cereals and oilseeds) has occurred at the expense of crops produced for food. Changes in the structure of plant production indicate negative risk factor that reduce the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and threaten Slovakia’s food security. Moran’s global and Moran’s local autocorrelation index were used in the synthesis of the findings. A spatial autocorrelation analysis of the harvest areas of selected crops was used as a practical approach to locate statistically significant areas with high or low crop harvest. This manifested itself as positive spatial autocorrelation.

AbstrAct:The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union is reflected in the development of agricultural production in Slovakia. The development of livestock production faced significant changes reflected in its overall decrease. The decrease in the level of agricultural production in Slovakia between 2002 and 2010 is shown by several indicators assessed in this paper. Its main aim is to highlight differences in Slovak agriculture at the level of LAU I, which are districts of Slovakia, according to the selected indicators of agricultural production between 2002 and 2010. We analyse the development of regional differences in Slovak agriculture that have widened under the influence of the EU Common Agricultural Policy. The development of selected indicators of agricultural production was analysed using the change index, which best represents differences in the development of agriculture in the Slovak regions.

The presented paper deals with the regionalization of the electoral support of the Czech Pirate Party (Pirates) in regional elections using methods and techniques of spatial data analysis. The aim is to answer the question whether the territorial distribution of Pirate electoral support allows this party to participate in governance at the regional level and thus influence the form of regional policy in individual regions. The results of the analysis show that the spatial distribution of Pirates’ electoral support in regional elections differed quite significantly not only from the pattern found in the elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament and elections to the European Parliament, but also between individual regional elections. This suggests the current lack of anchorage of Pirates’ electoral support in regional politics, but at the same time, it may have its origins in the second-order character of regional elections and the candidacy of many local and regional entities in regional elections. On the other hand, the results of the regional elections in 2020 meant that the Pirates received seats in all regional councils, but especially in nine of the thirteen regions they joined the regional government (similarly to two years earlier when they joined government of capital city of Prague), gaining the opportunity to influence, with regard to its priorities, the form of regional governance in most Czech regions.

No abstract

The development of agriculture in Slovakia in the last three decades has been influenced by two events: the transformation of agriculture after 1989 and Slovakia’s accession to the European Union in 2004. In this paper, we analyze the effects of Slovakia’s accession to the European Union on the development and structure of crop production. The aim of the paper was to identify connections, parallels and differences between the developments of the sown areas of the most important crops at the level of Slovakia and its regions in the period 2004–2020. Cluster analysis based on the similarity of the development of the sown areas divided the crops into four clusters (cereals; sugar-beet; oilseeds, multiannual fodder crops, maize; legumes, vegetables, potatoes). Multivariate analyses of the time series of sown areas also revealed similarities and differences between the regions of Slovakia. The results of the analysis point to regional differentiation and the identify two clusters. The first cluster comprises the Nitra and Trnava Regions, while the second cluster consists of the remaining six regions. The study has shown that changes in the agrarian sector after 2004, conditioned by Slovakia’s accession to the European Union, have been reflected in changes in the area and structure of cultivated crops, and in the differentiated development of sown areas.

The V4 countries went through a transformation of their entire economies, including the agricultural sector, in the 1990s. Each of these countries approached the transformation of agriculture differently, but later the V4 countries’ approach to agricultural development was unified by the EU's common agricultural policy. The aim of the paper was to compare the development of the production (sown area and hectare yield) of selected most commonly cultivated crops in Slovak and Czech regions (NUTS 3) in the period between 2004 and 2017. The development of production in these two countries was also evaluated against the trends of V4 countries. Based on these analyses, common and specific agriculture development trends in V4 countries were revealed. A chronological average was used to evaluate the average values of the monitored indicators in the period from 2004 to 2017 in Slovak and Czech regions. To express the development of the given indicators between 2004 and 2017, the change index was used and visualised cartographically. Regression analysis was used to show the development trends of agricultural production in the V4 countries. In general, the agricultural sectors in the V4 countries show similar characteristics with similar trends, and the average hectare yield has a modest growing trend. In terms of the structure of the cultivated plants, the size of the cultivated areas, the volume of production and the average hectare yields, there have been considerable changes to crop farming in Slovak and Czech regions. The study showed that the changes in the agrarian sector after the year 2004 conditioned by the entry of Czechia and Slovakia into the European Union were reflected in a decrease in crop production and an increase in regional disparities. From the point of view of the production indicator expressing the hectare yield of crops, Czechia achieves better indicator values than does Slovakia.

The paper focuses on the use of biomass in the conditions of the Slovak Republic. The importance and position of biomass within renewable energy sources is highlighted in the introduction. Documents such as laws, studies, and strategies which have been developed with the aim to increase the share of renewable energy sources within the energy mix are listed here. The issue of biogas and its possible sources in the Slovak Republic was also solved. An important part of the paper is the presentation of the current statistical data concerning to the number of biogas stations and also information about the material used for gasification purposes in SR. A separate part of the contribution consists of the field research results focused on selected biogas stations in western Slovakia. We provide basic technical specifications, biomass suppliers and statistical data about heat and electricity production for each station. Selected stations were located in villages: Smolinské, Malý Cetín, Ružindol, Chynorany and Kolíňany.